Gear Shift
by Keaton Tails
Summary: Gear Shift Saga Book 2, Sonic X. Chuck and Tails try to solve the mystery behind the Chaos Emeralds and the strange appearences of mobius landforms on Earth, while Amy delves into Tail's well guarded secret and endagers all of the Throndikes.
1. In the Beginning

Disclaimer: I claim neither to own nor to have borrowed any of Sega's or any other brand name's slogans, characters, events, or copyright terms. This disclaimer applies to all chapters of this and any story I write.  
  
Special Thanks: Illys, without you I would never have found TKN or have been inspired to continue writing. Thanks for all you help past, present and future.  
  
Update: I just watched the first season finale of Sonic X and I decided it was time to update my story thoroughly. To all who have the chapters read so far, you may wish to reread it. Time spaces, ages, and past events have been built on or changed. Lastly, in your reviews, please do not spoil the mystery for current readers if you think you know what it is.  
  
//////Gear Shift  
  
Ch. 1 In the Beginning  
  
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails yelled across the Thorndike backyard hoping to get the hedgehog's attention.  
  
No response came from the tree perch where Tails knew the hedgehog was. That was strange; normally Sonic would at least acknowledge Tail's presence even if he was in a foul mood.  
  
Tail's treaded though the thin early fall foliage underneath the tree and asked, "Sonic are you—"  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
Tails could feel the hedgehog's glare pierce through him even though he couldn't see it. Tails stammered, "Sonic I, I..."  
  
"Does our friendship mean nothing to you?" came the icy reply.  
  
"Sonic, you know it—"  
  
"Didn't you trust me? Has all we've seen and went through meant so little to you that you couldn't tell me that? Can't you trust me? Why Tails? Answer ME!" Sonic yelled as he erupted from the branches.  
  
"Sonic!" Tails screamed as he fell back and hit the floor beside his bed in the boy's room.  
  
He sat up on the floor panting and freezing in a cold sweat. Tails pulled his knees in and cried.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------  
  
The alarm rang and she was up in a flash. Quickly, she dressed herself and headed silently down the hallway; there was no need to wake anyone up at this ungodly hour at night.  
  
Once she was in the exercise room and after she turned on the lights, she set to work setting a heavily modified treadmill, a job well done by Tails that she had hidden in the back closet. This machine was different than the average run-of-the-mill treadmill; it could be set from a normal jog to speeds exceeding 150 mph. Instead of being set by controls the treadmill was set by how fast the person running on it was moving.  
  
She hopped on and started to jog at a leisurely place, 30 mph. When she had first started her intensive, nightly training she would be lucky to reach such a speed, but now it came as naturally as breathing. She was starting to understand why Sonic loved to run.  
  
She slowed and stepped off the treadmill to stretch out any remaining kinks left in her body, and then she set to work, kicking it up to high gear.  
  
It was glorious, her feet became like a swift river; fluid and quick, and her heart; a drum to which her entire body moved to. She found herself longing to run like this forever.  
  
If only her body were as ready as her mind. Soon after she had started the sprint, her muscles began to complain and burn, and her pace began to falter.  
  
Her eyes darted to the speed monitor. It read 80 mph.  
  
Pathetic! She thought to herself, Sonic would laugh at that slow speed.  
  
That was enough motivation for her already weary legs: they redoubled their effort. Straining herself almost to her body's threshold she watched as her speed ticket up one glorious number after another. She realized she was going to do it, she was going to break her speed goal she had set so long ago!  
  
95, 96 the speed monitor read. Almost there, she thought, just a little bit more...  
  
Her frame felt like it was lit aflame, searing pain racketed her sides. Yet she did not slow, she only went faster.  
  
98, 99 C'mon Ames you can do it! Her mind screamed to her tired body.  
The screen blinked 100 mph and Amy collapsed and let the fox's built- in safety mechanism deposit her on the floor. She had done it; she had succeeded in her first goal of many, the ultimate of which was, of course, Sonic.  
  
Panting heavily, the young she-hog rose onto unsteady feet trying unsuccessfully to regain her balance. After a few vain attempts, she started to lumber down the hallway. Unconsciously she tugged at her sweat- stuck tee while her mind wandered to the victory bath she was going to award herself once she made it to the upstairs bathroom.  
  
In fact she was almost all the way in the doorway before she realized the bathroom already had an occupant.  
  
"Amy!" Tails shrieked as he plunged headfirst into the bath.  
  
Beet-red from embarrassment and shocked from surprise Amy jumped back and shut the door. Apologies flooded from her so fast she doubted the young fox could make heads or tails what she was saying.  
  
Tail's voice, still shaky from the encounter, weakly came through the door, "Don't worry about it, Amy, you just surprised me. That's all..."  
  
"I'm so sorry Tails."  
  
"I'm alright, Amy," a nervous chuckle, "no permanent damage done."  
  
The reply hardly settled with Amy. Tail's definitely wasn't acting like himself lately she thought to herself as she walked down the stairs to the downstairs bathroom. Lately, Tails had been very quiet and he had kept himself locked in his "Chaos Central" all day. Chris had told her the other day that he was worried about Tails. Chris had said that, most nights in the past month, Tails had been kicking and growling and whimpering and even arguing in his sleep.  
  
Amy could see why Tails was having the nightmares, though. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, herself, and most especially Cream had been through a lot and had seen things people their age were never meant to see. They all had witnessed friends and family destroyed before their very eyes, and Cream had seen worse than all of the others put together. Somehow though, whether it was Cream's childish innocence, or her optimistic personality, she had pulled through the horrors with barely a blemish on her personality.  
  
Still though, why would Tails be having reoccurring nightmares night after night? Sure, all of them most likely had their share of nightmares from time to time, yet why would Tails be having nightmares of that war after all this time?  
  
A realization hit her; what if it wasn't the war that was bothering Tails? What if it was something else? What if that something had to do with Eggman or something worse?  
  
She had to do something. Sonic could wait; she had to find out what was wrong with Tails and fast.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"You called, Miles?" Mr. Tanaka asked as he peered in from the doorway to the boy's bedroom. The only occupant was the young fox sitting on his bed looking at his feet.  
  
"I think Amy knows, or at least suspects."  
  
Mr. Tanaka stepped through the doorway and silently shut the door. He remained standing and evaluated the thirteen-year-old fox. Miles was obviously distraught; he must have come across Miss Amy after one of his nightmares during the night.  
  
For almost two years now he had known about the fox's condition and, in accordance to Miles' wishes he had kept it a secret. Mr. Tanaka, regrettably, knew very little about the problem that would be of any aid and, thus, was of little use to the fox. Mr. Tanaka was sure Miss Amy, since she had known the fox for far longer than he, would of more help to Prowler.  
  
He did not want to force the idea, so he tried to carefully pick his words and tread lightly, "Miles, this is just a suggestion, but I believe that Miss Rose—"  
  
"No!" Tails argued, "The moment she found out she would run and tell Sonic."  
  
"I believe Miss Amy is more trustworthy than you give her credit for. However, If you let her find out about this using her own methods then you shall run the risk not only telling Sonic, but worse. Amy is well known for her temper.  
  
"Also, Mr. Prowler, I believe she would be of more use to you than I. Not only has she known you longer, but she would also know more about your condition than I."  
  
Mr. Tanaka fell silent as he let his words echo in the foxes mind and sink in.  
  
Miles, for the first time since Mr. Tanaka entered the room, looked up and sighed, "I guess you are right. I'll tell her the first opportunity I get."  
  
Mr. Tanaka bowed deeply and was about to take his leave when Miles continued, "Can I ask you one last favor, Mr. Tanaka." He turned and faced Miles. "It is getting harder to, well, you know...with my fur"  
  
"Already taken care of Miles Prowler. I shall return shortly, and then you should join the others for breakfast." Mr. Tanaka bowed again and walked out of the room.  
  
"I'm sorry if I have been a burden."  
  
He kept walking and replied, "If you had ever became a burden you would have been the first to have known."  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Whoa! Where did you get the cool duds lil' bro?" Sonic asked later that morning at the breakfast table.  
  
Chuck answered before Tails could even draw a breath, "A few weeks ago Mr. Tanaka told me that Tails was beginning to show an interest in clothing and, since I used to be a tinker before I was a scientist, he asked me if I still had anything that may be useful to an inventor. So I dug around in my closet for a couple of days until I found an outfit I thought he might enjoy. And, by the look on his face, I believe he does."  
  
It was no lie for Tails was beaming. The old scientist had found for him an old leather vest that was composed of almost nothing but pockets of various shapes and sizes, and a pair of matching leather half-gloves. These pockets could be used to store anything from nuts and bolts to small tools, and the gloves offered more dexterity than his others without sacrificing the much needed scratch and blister protection of the back and palms of the hand.  
  
"So why the sudden interest in clothing, Tails?" Amy asked, as she walked into the room and took a seat.  
  
Apparently the question she had been dying to ask had been in the back of everyone else's mind also for they all turned and looked at him expectantly.  
  
The question caught Tails completely off-guard, he had not expected the question, and, for that, he credited Amy's ingenuity. Stammering, mainly because of all the eyes on him, Tails started, "Well...I felt—"  
  
"Hey, everybody, guess what!" Chris yelled from the entry hall, "All of us got letters from my school!"  
  
Excitement and discussion broke out at the breakfast table as Chris passed the letters and very quickly to his relief Tails was forgotten by all but one. Amy still looked at him from the corner of her eyes, eyes that were trying to uncover secrets from a concrete block.  
  
"Wow, Chris! You mean we are going to your school?" Cream asked with glee.  
  
"Well, it's kind of like that, Cream," Chris explained as he gave Cream her letter, "But there are different buildings in the school for different grade levels so we all might not be in the same school building."  
  
Sonic, after receiving his letter, snorted and tossed it behind him. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather run than go to any school."  
  
Ella, the maid, who had just appeared with many plates of breakfast, gave Sonic a withering glare as she laid the plates on the table. "Sonic, how old you?"  
  
"Nineteen"  
  
"Do you remember back a few years when the president awarded you and the others honorary citizenship?"  
  
"Yea, but the only reason I took it was to get the military off of my case."  
  
"Well, Sonic, by taking the citizenship you swore an unsaid oath to follow all this countries laws and going to school until one graduates or reaches the age of twenty-one is one of them."  
  
Sonic stood up and stretched. "Well I guess I'll just have to drop out then."  
  
Ella dropped her still half full serving tray and turned around to face the short hedgehog. Food went everywhere, but the maid did not notice. Tails could not see Ella's face but the sound of her voice made him wish he could craw into a hole and die to avoid her wrath.  
  
"Maurice T Hedgehog! As long as you live in this house you will do nothing to shame the Thorndike name or the members of the family of which you are also a member! Now, as far as I'm concerned this discussion is over, and it would be in your best interests if I hear of no problems from the school. Understood?"  
  
Sonic gulped, nodded, and quietly sat back down into his chair looking at his plate of food.  
  
Ella, now calm and acting as if nothing had happened asked Chris when school began.  
  
"Well, the envelope said it was sent about three weeks ago..."  
  
Ella was bending over and taking stock of the mess. Absentmindedly she muttered, "Great the mailman misplaced our mail again. I have half a mind to—"  
  
"Ella," Chris said carefully, "According to the letter, school starts tomorrow."  
  
He was right. Tails came across that as he read his own letter. While Ella was conducting the preparations for a last minute shopping spree, and arguing with Sonic about wearing clothes, Tails kept on reading.  
  
The letter said he would start the year off as a senior and would graduate after Christmas. The school system was only doing this as a formality, Tails knew, but they disguised it as a chance to adapt to the school setting.  
  
Tails groaned for this had complicated things. School was really going to hamper Tails' chances to get a moment alone with Amy. He only wished that Amy wouldn't do anything rash before he had the chance to tell her.  
  
------------------------------------------ 


	2. A Last Stand

Update: I just watched the first season finale of Sonic X and I decided it was time to update my story thoroughly. To all who have the chapters read so far, you may wish to reread it. Time spaces, ages, and past events have been built on or changed. Lastly, in your reviews, please do not spoil the mystery for current readers if you think you know what it is.  
  
//////Gear Shift  
  
Chapter 2- The Last Stand  
  
------------------------------------  
  
He had won. The battle was his, but he feared he was losing this drawn out war of his subconscious and conscious minds. It felt like it had been an eternity since he had had a restful nights sleep.  
  
Wearily, Tails sat up on his bed and contemplated his choices. He had the option of going back to sleep with the slim chance that he would avoid another mental assault from his subconscious, but the effects of the last assault still weighed heavily upon his conscious mind and he decided against it.  
  
The only other thing on his mind was Amy. Ever since the bathroom incident yesterday morning she had been on his tails like a hound. He had been lucky enough to get even a moment's privacy at the mansion.  
  
However, when they had gone to Station Square Mall for a last second, scholar-shopping spree, he had longed for that moment of privacy. They had divided into small groups; Cream followed Ella, Chuck took responsibility for Chris and he, and Sonic and Amy, the eldest two, had been free to roam wherever they wished. Amy's wish had been, of course, to follow Tails in the pursuit of any clue to his secret she could uncover.  
  
At first Tails, with his foxy hearing, had thought he was being paranoid when he had heard Amy's distinct boot clips behind him in the crowded mall halls. Tails had simply dismissed it as one of many humans wearing high- heeled shoes, for every time he had turned to look, there was no pink hedgehog in site.  
  
After two hours, when the paranoia became an annoyance, he had known he was not imagining things; Amy had really been really tagging him. He had decided that if she was going to play this game of hide and seek it would be under his rules she played.  
  
Tails had separated from Chuck and Chris with the excuse that he was going to get a drink from a nearby pretzel vender and would meet up with them at a close young adult clothing outlet store. During the crossing of the wide mall hall, Tails had focused his entire mind and had zeroed in on the sound. The last sound he had heard came from a collection of trash bins and benches arranged so perfectly that a person the size of Amy could easily hide unnoticed.  
  
He had ordered his drink and sat down on one of the benches in question and waited with his back to where he had suspected Amy was hidden. It took only a matter of a few minutes before he had heard the unmistakable sound of shifting body weight.  
  
"Don't forget," Tails had said in a voice that would be just audible to the pink hedgehog, "the reason we are here. I would guesstimate we have about an hour and a half to two hours before we leave. It would look mighty strange if the shopaholic had little to show for four hours of shopping, wouldn't it, Ames?"  
  
Tails had received a muffled gasp from the trash bins and a strange look from an old couple sitting on a nearby bench.  
  
He had not heard the clicking of heels again until they had meet up to leave the mall.  
  
Tails looked at his clock next to his bed and sighed, it would be another hour before Amy was up and yet another before she was done with her secret training. He had modified an average treadmill for her, but how she planned to ever become fast enough to even catch Sonic's eye was beyond his comprehension. The girl has big plans, Tails mused, and the need for speed must be a hereditary trait all hedgehogs have in one form or another.  
  
Tails quietly stood up from his bed and, careful not to wake the sleeping forms of Sonic and Chris, he dressed himself in his mechanic's vest and gloves. Tiptoeing out the door and down the stairway, Tails slowly made his way out of the house, across the dark grounds, and into the workshop.  
  
The low, rhythmic hum of the overhead fluorescent lights was a soothing melody to the young fox's mind and body. The sweet rhythm trickled through him like a wandering creek, washing away all vestiges of his dreams and his problems, and left his mind and body refreshed.  
  
He was at home; this was his domain of gadgets and gyros. It was only in this safe haven that both the armies of his mind laid down their weapons and called a temporary truce. Here he was one being in harmony, not two in a sibling quarrel.  
  
Reverently, Tails picked his way through the undergrowth of tools and machines as he forged a path to the stair leading up to the trapdoor to his and Chuck's 'Chaos Central' as Sonic had dubbed it.  
  
Over the five years of warring with Robotnik on Earth, the room had slowly evolved from a young boy's getaway with his grandpa to a lab designed to study and document the amazing abilities of seven different gems. The room had not lost it's cozy wooden floors, or the wooden walls, but they were masked by one huge capsule used to store the Chaos Emeralds, poster sized diagrams of the different complex atomic structures of six of the emeralds, and all the equipment that Chuck and he used to unravel the mysteries behind the gems.  
  
After the last cataclysmic battle on the ARK, the Chaos Emeralds were scattered to the winds. So far, Chris and the adopted Thorndikes managed to recover only two of the emeralds; the canary yellow and the turquoise stones. From what Tails could find out through extensive hacking, the government only had the jade emerald, the whereabouts of which no one but a select few knew of.  
  
Eggman had mysteriously disappeared after that battle, leaving rumors in his wake. Some where led to believe by misunderstanding the president's victory speech that the would-be titan had been killed in the battle, some believed the government had finally captured him, but only a few, namely the Thorndikes, and the president and his trusted aides, knew that the doctor was alive and free, bidding his time. What truly frightened those that knew or suspected the truth was the fact that no one knew just how many emeralds Ivo Robotnik had managed to collect in these quiet times.  
  
What astonished everyone, however, was the aftermath of the chaos controls. It seemed that whenever all the Chaos Emeralds combined, whether it be by themselves, Chaos the god of Destruction, Sonic, or the late Shadow, a chaos control ensured.  
  
The first chaos control had sent Tails, Sonic, Amy, Cream, Knuckles, Robotnik, and Robotnik's Chaos Control to Earth. In less than six months, Robotnik and the Thorndikes had managed to locate all of the seven Chaos Emeralds and, thanks to the help of Chris, had created the chaos control that would have taken them home.  
  
Yet, it didn't take them home. Instead, the chaos control brought a little bit of home to the Mobians. About a fifty miles south of Station Square in the Emerald Sea, the Mobian jungle had appeared as if from nowhere. With the Mobian jungle, the ancient city of Echidnopolis and Angel Island had also appeared.  
  
Just days after the mysterious appearances, Eggman had attacked Station Square again, but this time he was armed with the power of Chaos, god of Destruction. Robotnik had managed to once again amass all seven Chaos Emeralds to perfect Chaos. Perfect Chaos had rebelled against Robotnik and had almost completely leveled Station Square. Sonic, using what power that was left inside of the drained Chaos Emeralds, battled against Perfect Chaos. The battle had been fierce, but Sonic had still managed to pull through. Almost immediately afterwards a much larger chaos control had insured.  
  
As Station Square began to repair itself, pilots and seamen alike were discovering uncharted islands all around the world. Tails himself had traveled to many of the islands to discover, to his amazement, that they nearly identical to the Far Islands he used to fly over when he was on Mobius.  
  
The government had found one island to their liking. It was the Mobian island fortress, Prison Island, the same one that once held Robotnik's lunatic, genius grandfather. Almost overnight it had turned from a simple cell prison to an air force base, bunker, and high security penitentiary.  
  
From that island Robotnik had resurrected the ultimate life-form Shadow. Shadow had led Robotnik to an abandoned, overlander space colony called ARK that had also appeared from the chaos control. It was there that Robotnik, after recovering six Chaos Emeralds, had blown away one fourth of the moon and had caused terror in the world below. It was also there that Sonic and Shadow, during the crisis that followed the insertion of the last Chaos Emerald, saved the world.  
  
The chaos control that followed had solved the crisis, but had no other visible effect on Earth. That was what worried Chuck and Tails. Each chaos control had grown stronger in intensity and range with each occurrence. They were both worried about what would happen the next time the emeralds gathered together.  
  
However, he had more pressing issues to worry about.  
  
Now, after five years of heavy depletion by his machines and Sonic, Tail's energy ring reserves where dangerously low. He remembered that back in Knothole the ring pool had used the power of a Chaos Emerald to create energy rings every twelve hours. One year before the Chaos Central incident that launched them to Earth, the brightest minds in Knothole, which included him, found out that if they decreased the energy rings' size the rings became stable and had a half-life of years.  
  
Eleven months and a few weeks later Robotnik had attacked Knothole and had stolen his sixth Chaos Emerald, the canary emerald, from the ring pool. During the attack he had captured Cream and the whereabouts of the last emerald.  
  
Without the emerald the scattered rebels of Knothole would be forced to slowly deplete it's supply of energy rings, and, without the protection of the hidden village, were vulnerable to attack. If they did nothing but run and lick their wounds, Robotnik would hunt them down and eliminate the threat. They had to strike soon or face annihilation from either Robotnik's Chaos Control or Snively's army in the Robotropolis.  
  
Aunt Sally had a plan, but unlike any other of her plans it called for an all or nothing strategy. If they held back anything in what appeared to be the final stretch of the war, they could lose it all. Thus, Sally had called upon the strength of all the able people from the underground cities and the continent Down Under to amass one large rebel army to fight the final battle.  
  
Robotnik, by moving thousands of swat-bots and other robots from the city to Chaos Control, had left the city very exposed to an all out assault. Aunt Sally, with the aid of the fellow rebels leaders, would attack her ancestral home on all sides and reclaim the city that Eggman had captured so long ago.  
  
Sonic and Tails would then attack Chaos Control. Their objectives; retrieve the stolen Chaos Emerald and as many others as possible, rescue Cream and Cheese before Robotnik robotized them, and to cause as much damage to Chaos Control as possible. If the opportunity arose they had also been commanded to bring back the doctor, dead or alive.  
  
Tails had brought all of the energy rings the army could spare him for if Sonic and he failed their mission then the recapture of the city would mean nothing. Eggman would just overtake the freed city with the crushing power of Chaos Control.  
  
Tails, a few minutes before Sonic attacked, had flown as close as he dared to Chaos Central. After landing the Tornado X, Tails had used a new weapon. This weapon, located deep within the heart of the Tornado X, emitted a specific sound frequency so high that it could fry the delicate circuitry of all swat-bots in a five-mile radius. The deployment of the weapon had given away his position to Robotnik's scanners like a beacon of light.  
  
The deactivated swat-bots had been Sonic's cue to launch his attack on the heart of the complex, which had given Tails the distraction he had needed to head for a safer place and to position himself in case Sonic needed backup.  
  
Tails shook himself from the memories, he was starting to get as bad as Chuck when it came to reminiscing. The important thing now was trying to mimic the machine and environment in which the energy rings were formed.  
  
After typing in the code to release the canary emerald from it's Chaos Container, Tails began his experiment. He had created a glass hourglass-like apparatus that would house both the emerald and what he hoped would be the correct raw materials needed to create an energy ring.  
  
Tails undid the complementary caps and separated the hourglass structure into two triangular glasses. After uncapping the one with a ring- shaped indention in the bottom, he dropped small pebbles of silicon into the indention. The soil around the pool was mostly clay, and he figured that the silicon in the clay was the one of the key elements in the rings.  
  
He had always wondered why the ring pool created rings every twelve hours, but now he thought it had something to do with the life cycle of the pond. When living things died they release methane as they decomposed. Tails was fairly sure that when the levels of methane in the level reached a certain level the machine in the lake was triggered on and the Chaos Emerald created an energy ring from the gas and the silicon in the water.  
  
After recapping the bottle, Tails reached under the table and pulled out a small gas tank full of methane gas with a nozzle complementary to the cap on the bottle. After filling the bottle nearly to the exploding point, Tails disconnected the tank and the bottle and inserted the canary Chaos Emerald into the other part of the hourglass.  
  
After reconnecting the two half of the hourglass Tails set it inside a machine and set the timer on it. Excitement coursed through his veins as his gloved hand lay inches above the ignition button, this was the moment of truth. If all his calculations were correct, there would be one perfectly formed energy ring at the bottom of the hourglass.  
  
Tails depressed the button and a wide laser shot from the top of the machine, rebounded off the emerald's facets, and superheated the trapped gas beneath creating plasma streams from the tip of the emerald to the bottom of the hourglass.  
  
The bright light from the glass rapidly grew in intensity; Tails covered his eyes and stumbled backwards with a shocked gasp as the searing yellow light enveloped him and his Chaos Central. 


	3. Midnight Sun

Update: I just watched the first season finale of Sonic X and I decided it was time to update my story thoroughly. To all who have the chapters read so far, you may wish to reread it. Time spaces, ages, and past events have been built on or changed. Lastly, in your reviews, please do not spoil the mystery for current readers if you think you know what it is.  
  
//////Gear Shift  
-Ch.3 Midnight Sun  
  
It had been a typical morning; Amy had once again groggily awoken to her alarm clock, silently dressed herself in her running tee and shorts, and walked the routine distance to the exercise room.  
  
Instinctively, Amy noticed something was different in the lighting of the room the moment she stepped in, but she dismissed it as a trick of her mind. The shadows of the various machines and weights were subtly shifted. Amy, not in the least unnerved about the subtle change in lighting, still curiously stepped into the room and looked out the lone window and peered across the grounds.  
  
The lights on the second story of Chuck's workshop were on. She knew that, on occasion, Tails would be up at this time at night tinkering in the downstairs part of the workshop where the planes and the Tornado X were, but this was the first time he had ever worked upstairs in the 'Chaos Center' at night.  
  
Full of curiosity, she moved to the exercising room window in the dark room and looked into the windows of the workshop some meters away. You never know, she thought to herself, this may be my chance to see what up with Mr. Mysterious. She giggled to herself and focused in on the windows.  
  
Tails was moving to the other side of the holding something in his two hands. Amy squinted and gasped to herself, it was one of the Chaos Emeralds! She knew Tails wasn't supposed to have those out of the container, because if Eggman was searching for the signals coming from the emeralds he would know they had found at least one and come after them to lay claim to it.  
  
Such a bad boy you are, Tails, she chided the little kit in her mind, endangering all the little innocent girls you are supposed to protect for a little midnight experiment.  
  
Tails moved across the window, and Amy positioned herself to achieve a better view. Tails then inserted the yellow gem into an hourglass contraption and gently placed it a machine that resembled an oversized coffee brewer that had mysteriously vanished from the dining room a few weeks ago.  
  
A bright light that kept on getting brighter began to radiate from the device, and Amy involuntarily jumped away from her post, rubbing her watery eyes. When she could at last see again she was stunned. It was as if the sun had decided to rise just outside her bedroom window: the entire room was as bright as it would have been in the middle of the day.  
  
What was Tails doing? He's going to drive the entire neighborhood, and possibly half the city into a Robotnik phobic panic. Amy couldn't understand what had gotten into the little fox. She would've only expected a stunt like that if Sonic were the one in the lab.  
  
Slowly, as if the new sun was taking its time to set, the yellow light faded away to nothing but a dull glow from the window, and finally died away.  
  
Amy moved back towards the window, half expecting to see a large crater where the workshop was, especially after a light show like that one. The workshop appeared to be unharmed, yet Tails was nowhere to be seen. She panned around the window until she found him. From what she could see, Tails was sprawled out on his back and wasn't moving.  
  
Fear gripped the she-hog's heart. What had happened over there? She thought. Tails still wasn't moving and she was too far away to tell if he was even still breathing. She had to get over there and quick.  
  
Moving as quickly and quietly as she could to the door, Amy stopped about a hand's distance away when she heard whispering voices.  
  
"Chuck what's going on? Don't you go telling me it's who I think it is," came the unmistakable voice of a worried Ella.  
  
Chuck replied nonchalantly, "Oh, Ella, c'mon you and I both know that if Dr. Eggman had attacked then he would've destroyed the entire workshop after he had his prizes. I'm more worried about what Tails was doing over there more than anything."  
  
"All the more reason to check on him." Amy silently agreed with the maid.  
  
"I'm sure that young Prowler is fine, Miss Ella," Mr. Tanaka's voice whispered right behind the door, "I am also sure that was just a part of the experiment that Prowler has been planning for quite some time now."  
  
"Still...."  
  
"Ella, Tanaka said that Tails was doing an experiment right? If we happened to walk in at the wrong time we could very easily put his life in danger. Believe me, I've been in situations like that. Anyways, I did not see any signs of fire coming from the workshop so I'm sure that Tails is fine."  
  
"What about the neighbors? I bet you they're half dead with worry that the doctor's attacked again!"  
  
"Oh c'mon, Ella, you know as well as me that everyone in area has heard and seen their fair share of strange things come from the workshop years before the doctor or Sonic and his friends showed up."  
  
Chuck's response was answered by Ella's all-too-famous Hmph! and Mr. Tanaka replied, "Miss Ella, I believe we all have a busy day ahead. Let us go back to our beds and get some rest. I'm sure that Prowler is perfectly fine, and I believe Master Chuck is right about the neighbors."  
  
"Alright, Mr. Smartiepants, then why is Amy's bed empty when I checked it a few minutes ago hmm?"  
  
Amy's blood turned to ice within her veins. She was becoming increasing aware that the only thing separating her from a difficult explanation about why she was out of bed this hour was a thin, wooden door.  
  
Chuck sounded appalled, "You don't seriously think that? We all know they're way to young to even think about those things."  
  
"Tails may not know about those things, but I'm very sure Amy does. I'm not sayin' that Amy would do something like that, but I doubt Tails would know what was going on if that notion got into Amy's head."  
  
"Miss Ella," Mr. Tanaka leaned his foot against the door making Amy jump slightly in fright, "Amy has probably gone to investigate, and I honestly doubt that any notion of that has crossed her mind. I'm sure that we will hear something from her if anything comes up. Let us go back to our beds, for we have a busy morning tomorrow."  
  
Chuck agreed and Ella scuffed, but all three departed down the hallway.  
  
Amy waited for a few seconds to calm her herself as listened to the footfalls fall into silence. She was sure Mr. Tanaka had known she was in the room, and she was pretty sure he had wanted her to check on Tails.  
  
As silent as the twilight, Amy hastily made her way out of the mansion and across the lawn and into the workshop. Amy ran across the workshop's floor and up the trapdoor.  
  
Just a few feet away from her was the unconscious form of Tails. Amy moved to over towards him and looked him over. Besides a few bumps and maybe a bruise from when he fell, Amy didn't find anything wrong with the little kit.  
  
Amy had figured that when people were knocked out they'd have one of the weird Hollywood expressions their face, but instead Tails looked so calm and peaceful in his unnatural sleep.  
  
It was funny how something so little could be so full of mystery. Tails had just started wearing clothes recently, she mused. Could whatever this is about be in his vest? The temptation gnawed at her as her hand strayed for Tail's vest and she found herself wondering if she could bear the shame of defiling her friends must guarded secret. Could she live with the consequences of this simple action?  
  
Throwing her lot into the greedy hands of chance, Amy grabbed hold of the vest flap and pulled it away from the body of the little fox kit, looking for an inside pocket.  
  
She didn't even have to search the inside pockets. The thing that was staring her right in the face told her everything she needed to know.  
  
"No...it can't be."  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
He was floating. No dreams disturbed him; no sinister figure hovered over him. He was at peace in the darkness.  
  
A light shown down from heavens and penetrated the veil around him, and he reluctantly answered its beckoning call. Tails, for the first time in months, stirred from what had felt like a restful night's sleep.  
  
"That was a good night's sleep," Tails said through a yawn to no one in particular. Tails sat up expecting to see the sleeping form of Sonic or Chris in a nearby bed.  
  
What he saw instead was a royally pissed off pink hedgehog menacingly holding a yellow mallet with the fires of Hades dancing in her jade eyes.  
  
Now wide-awake with stark terror, Tails crawled backwards in a futile attempt to get away from the she-hogs suffocating wrath, but the hedgehog followed. Tails was trying to search for an answer in his fear-racked mind but it was like swimming in mud.  
  
Good God, she knows! Tails realized. Mr. Tanaka hadn't been joking when he had told him to tell her on Tail's own terms and to not let Amy find out for herself.  
  
"Amy, I can explain!" he yelled as he scrambled away in fear.  
  
Her answer was a vicious swing with her Piko-Piko hammer that grazed the tufts of fur on Tail's head. She prepared to make a return swing and Tails readied himself. She brought it around and Tails jumped to his feet and managed to grasp the shaft of the mallet to prevent it from splitting his head like a melon.  
  
Damn, Amy's really serious about that training of hers, he thought as his muscles strained with the effort to keep the hammer above his head.  
  
"Amy," Tails pleaded, "just give me chance to explain!"  
  
"You won't take my Sonikku away, you imposter! I swear it!" Amy yelled as she redoubled her effort to break the fox's defense.  
  
Tails moved the hammer away from his body as he let it go and ducked to avoid another swing to the head.  
  
"Amy! Listen to me!" Tails tried to explain as he dodged another blow in the small room. Tails kicked the hammer out of the she-hog's hand and into the Chaos Container, shattering the protective glass and sending the aquamarine Chaos Emerald flying across the room. Amy then lunged at him with both of her fists flying.  
  
"What have you done with the real Tails?" Amy yelled in a fit of rage as she aimed punch after punch for the fox's head.  
  
Tails avoided the blows and managed to catch her wrists and hold them behind the she-hog's back like Aunt Sally had taught him when he being was trained to infiltrate the doomed city.  
  
"Listen to me, Amy," Tails said as calmly as he could with hopes that his words would calm her. She still struggled against him, and probably still would no matter what he did.  
  
"I don't know what makes you think I'm going to capture Sonic. Amy!" Tails tightened his grip on her as she made a futile to escape. Tails brought his muzzle to her neck, just below her ear, and issued a warning growl.  
  
That calmed a little, Tail's continued, "Amy, Sonic had been like the big brother I never had since the day we'd meet. I owe him everything. Everything, Amy." Amy had stopped her struggling and was listening, but Tails dared not to loosen his grip. "He saved me from the robotisicer, he ignited my passion for mechanics, and Sonic also brought me here to a world that Robotnik hadn't touched.  
  
"I've had more than a fair share of chances to take him, Amy. I didn't then and I will not do it now. If I had my choice, Amy, I would become the fox that everyone thinks I am instead of what I really am."  
  
Amy relaxed completely in his hold, and Tails lowered his voice to a gentle tone. "I'm still the same Tails, Amy, there has never been another, and, no matter what, I would never go after Sonic. Now, I'm going to let you go as long you don't try to knock off my head again."  
  
He let her go and she turned around sullenly rubbing her wrists. Tails walked past her in the direction of the destroyed Chaos Container. The delicate machinery under the lead shield would need repaired, and the shattered glass encasement that had held the emeralds would also need to be replaced. Tails groaned. How was he going to explain all this damage to Chuck?  
  
Cautious not to step on any of the haphazardly placed shards of glass, Tails recovered the aquamarine Chaos Emerald and Amy's hammer, which he returned to her.  
  
Amy was rolling her Piko-Piko hammer in her gloved hands when she asked in a hushed voice, "Why didn't you tell us, Tails? I mean It would've been a bit of a shock but..."  
  
"I knew that you or Sonic would've done something like this."  
  
Tails thoughtfully thumbed at the emerald resting in his hands. He looked down at the faceted bauble and, as if drawing his courage from it, Tails finally asked, "Amy I need you to help me. I'm fighting a losing battle within myself."  
  
"Tails, I guess I kinda overreacted, but I was afraid you were after Sonic. Tails, we've been friends for years, and you were always there for me all the times I was upset over Sonic." Amy reached out and reassuringly patted Tails on the shoulder. "I...I've just noticed that you haven't been yourself lately and I wanted to...well I guess I was curious about...." Amy kept on stumbling on her words, unsure of what she wanted to say.  
  
"Amy...I...I understand." Tails looked right into Amy's eyes. "Promise me, Amy, that you will never tell anyone, especially Sonic, about this."  
  
"Tails, I promise." Tails needed no more for he saw the truth of her words reflected in her eyes. "Let me do whatever I can to help, okay?"  
  
After what had just happened, Tails was none to eager to have the help of the half psychotic pink hedgehog, but so far the words of Tanaka had proved true. Because of that Tails went against every instinct in his mind and reluctantly agreed to what he had proposed in the first place.  
  
Amy, back to her eccentric self, giddily grabbed Tails by the shoulder and half dragged the little fox to an area of the floor free from the broken glass shards and had him lay down. Giggling to herself, Amy went back over to the lab table and grabbed Chuck's reading glasses. Next she sat down next to Tails and put on the spectacles that comically enlarged her eyes to the size of two tea saucers.  
  
"Now, Vails, vere zid I put ze ven and vaper?"  
  
Tails and Amy both burst out in laughter at the hilarious scene. Her hilariously horrible accent in combination with the ironic idea that he was being examined by the person who should be the one on the floor gave Tails the first true laugh he had had in what seemed like ages.  
  
Tails nodded his thanks to Amy who waved it away, "I figured that I'd give it a try. It's been so long since I've heard you laugh at Sonic's or mine jokes that I was worried that you had lost your sense of humor."  
  
Tails chuckled at the thought of how anyone, including Eggman, could simply lose their sense of humor when Amy continued, "Now, seriously, what's going on inside that melon you call a head?"  
  
The question sobered Tails up immediately. If only she knew the impossibility of what she asked! It was impossible to describe the warfare of wills and was beyond the ability of words to describe the sheer power that that figure held over Tails in the realm of dreams. How could he describe every clash of minds and every battle of words? Where would he begin?  
  
The figure was his past that he had killed off so long ago, but it seemed that Tails had buried his past in too shallow a grave and it had came back with the vengeful truth. No matter what intervention Tails could come up with he would inevitably become the figure, which was his past, present, and future.  
  
The truth of what he was would destroy the close brotherly bond that Tails and Sonic had shared for years. He valued that friendship more than any thing else in the world, and he could not bear the shame of telling Sonic the truth.  
  
Amy reached out and comforted the troubled fox. Soothingly and understandingly she told him, "It's alright Tails, take your time. At least tell me what is truly bothering you and I'll help as much as I can."  
  
Tails looked up into eyes that were sometimes so much like Sonic, and at other times so incredibly different. He searched throughout the jade oceans, and found no hidden motives or shadows lurking beneath the green waves. Mr. Tanaka was right, he could trust her with the entire truth.  
  
First he would ask the question that troubled him the most, "What do you think would happen if Sonic found out?"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Dr. Eggman! Dr. Eggman!"  
  
Eggman grumbled his displeasure at being disrupted from his plans on the most advanced E-series robot to date, and even more displeased at the fact that the little nuisance had returned intact. If it weren't for the usefulness of the robot's messenger and spy abilities he would've had him scrapped a long time ago. Almost as if sensing the foul mood Robotnik was in, the dark form of Bokkun obnoxiously moved right in front of his view of the blueprints.  
  
"What is it, you little pest?" he growled as he grabbed a cup of hot coffee from the table and took a generous sip from the mug.  
  
Apparently the energetic robot had missed the poisonous tone in the doctor's voice and excitedly answered, "I'm back from my mission and I have something to report, Eggman."  
  
Ivo tapped into his dwindling reserves of patience to ignore the ridiculous nickname that almost everyone, including his many of own minions, knew him only by.  
  
"Alright, Bokkun, what tidbit of information do you have for me this time?" he asked setting the mug back down on the table.  
  
"It's not just a tidbit, Eggman, It's the entire pineapple!" Bokkun giggled as he sat down, crumpling the fragile blueprints. "Tails has managed to create an energy ring from the yellow Chaos Emerald!"  
  
Now this was news! Eggman jumped up, shaking the desk and carelessly spilling the sticky drink all over the blueprints and the black robot. Tails had managed to solve the riddle that had constantly plagued him for years, and, if Bokkun had managed to uncover how the fox did it, Eggman would have the formula for creating the rings he had for so long desired!  
  
"Hey, you could've warned me before you dumped all that sticky stuff all over me!" Bokkun yelled obviously miffed, but unhurt.  
  
Eggman, ignoring her comment completely eagerness Eggman asked, "Did you manage to find out he did it Bokkun?"  
  
"Nope, I just saw the lightshow and the glowering ring in the test beaker."  
  
Eggman, restraining his rage at the robot's nonchalant mood toward the subject, sat back down and forced himself to think. Tails had an incredible talent in inventions, that was sure, but he hardly doubted that the fox would ever be able to best him. However, Eggman was no nearer to achieving his goal of immortal world domination on this world than he was on Mobius.  
  
He would need an heir to carry on his legacy, and so far the only person out of both worlds who had enough mechanical prowess and wit to carry out his legacy had been Tails. Tails was still young and innocent enough that, if he could remove the foul influence of Sonic from the kit, Eggman could still mold the young lad into a prestigious replica of himself.  
  
A plan started to unconsciously form in the doctor's mind as he laughed manically to himself. If all went according to plan, he would have one more ally and one less foe and he would, through Tails, finally defeat that bastard of a hedgehog Sonic!  
  
"Bokkun! I want you to monitor Tails very closely, but above all else you must not be seen. If anything of interest comes up regarding him report to me immediately."  
  
"Aye, Aye, Eggman!" Bokkun giggled as he took off from the hidden base.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Amy and Tails sat in silence after he had told her about his dreams, the figure of his near future, and his fears about Sonic finding out. Amy had reassured him that, no matter what, she doubted that Sonic would ever forsake his friendship, but still Tails was adamant in keeping his secret.  
  
Amy had sadly told him that she couldn't help him with the dreams because she figured the only way he could end the nightmares was to come to peace with his other self. Tails still doubted how he could do that, his selves where as different as night and day. Where he was quiet and thoughtful, his other used its acidic tongue to create verbal pitfalls for its victim to fall in. Where he was warm and friendly to everyone, it was cold, and calculating, seeing right through the masks that everyone wore.  
  
Every time he entered the diplomatic arena of his nightmares, Tails could feel a fragment of himself become tainted with that which he loathed.  
  
"So," Amy asked trying to pierce the veil of silence, "What where you doing up here? I mean that light show got everyone worked up down at the mansion. If it wasn't for Tanaka—hey where are you going?"  
  
Tails had gotten up and was hurrying over to the lab table. After what had happened with Amy he had completely forgotten about his experiment.  
  
Inside the device was one perfectly formed energy ring. Tails let out a whoop of joy and Amy walked up to his side, but it was clear she didn't understand his joy. He had done the almost impossible, he had rediscovered out how to create energy rings from the Chaos Emeralds.  
  
Inspiration struck him like a bolt of lightning. After the battle of Eggman's island fortress where Sonic used the power of two Chaos Emeralds to destroy the fortress, Sonic had said that the Chaos Emeralds were like ice cream. Each had a different flavor, but it was still ice cream.  
  
Amy must have seen the glint in his eye for she had a questioning expression on her face.  
  
"Amy, do you want to help me finish this experiment?"  
  
Her answer was an immediate 'yes!' because Tails rarely asked for help on an experiment so he imagined it was quite a treat for the she-hog. He had her run downstairs to grab two pairs of welding goggles while he removed the energy ring, reset the device with the silicon, and methane gas. However, this time he inserted the aquamarine stone into the contraption instead of the yellow emerald.  
  
Amy returned just as he finished the preparations and the two strapped on the goggles.  
  
Tails signaled for Amy to put on the goggles as he flipped the switch, turning on the laser. He moved back to where Amy stood and covered his eyes with his own goggles. Amy reached for his hand and grabbed hold of it as they were enveloped in the blinding azul light and as night became day. 


	4. A Day in the Life

Author's Note: I had started writing this midway through the first year of Sonic X and many of the events, places, and people may have been made up, changed, or, in the case of characters, slightly out of character. Also please note that //////Gear Shift is also part 2 in a trilogy of stories of the Gear Shift Saga along with Heroes of the Last Stand being the first.  
  
Update: Mostly fixed grammar and tweaked some sentences. There is really no change to this chapter otherwise.  
  
Gear Shift Saga, Book 2  
  
//////Gear Shift  
Chapter Four, A Day in the Life  
  
The sun cast its golden rays across the world and illuminated the serene music of rustling palm leaves dancing with the wind. The sun parted the thick clouds overhead like a court of courtiers and shone through the crystalline sapphire sky giving light and renewal to the land far below her majestic form.  
  
However, like a conspiracy against the throne, thick, dark clouds gathered at the horizons, the fringes of the sun's domain, and, like every year since the beginning of time, plotted the demise of their celestial queen. The smell of rain, the tears of the sun, was already in the air. The dry summer season of the sun was quickly coming to an end, and, very soon, the torrential rainy season would once again begin.  
  
The discussion at the Thorndike breakfast table brought Tails away from the celestial domain and back into his chair. The other Thorndikes were talking up a storm themselves about the energy rings that Tails and Amy created that were lying in the center of the rectangular table. The normal, yellow ring lay forgotten beside its unusual companion. The other ring, if it wasn't for an omnipresent light blue aura, could have easily been mistaken for an ordinary platinum band, but unlike platinum the ring could not be heated or warmed. Even immediately after being blowtorched, the band was still as cool as the aura that enveloped it.  
  
Tails had explained the events of the night leaving out Amy's tantrum, but he left out the physiatrist role-playing by using a technique he had mastered long ago. Tails had woven a tale together explaining how Amy had came to investigate the strange light and discovered Tails was indeed fine and well and had also been very eager to help in his project. In Tails' recollection she was so eager that she had thought Tails was dialing in the combination for the Chaos Container a little too slow and had beaned the contraption with her mallet in her eagerness. When Amy was involved in the lab things like that were prone to happen sooner or later anyway.  
  
Amy had been caught off guard against such a retelling of the events, yet she managed to keep face when everyone looked to her for confirmation. As Tails had told her before breakfast, she followed Tails lead, for any other way would have left questions leading to both of their secrets. Just as Tails had planned, all of them with the exception of the all seeing Tanaka had bought the story.  
  
"Hey, Tails," Sonic asked him as they both watched Chuck examine the blue energy ring, "you have any idea what this thing does?"  
  
Tails shook his head. The ring had him just as stumped as everyone else at the table.  
  
Chuck put down the ring and sighed. He announced, "This difference in energy rings proves the theory that each emerald had a different personality to it like we hypothesized, but, until we can find out what it does, it tells us very little more."  
  
Discussion about what the mysterious energy ring could do bounced around the table until Ella came through the door carrying a large tray loaded with hot, steamy food. When Ella placed his tray on the table, Tails eagerly picked up his knife and fork, ready to dig in.  
  
Ella moved towards the kitchen, but before entered it she made a motion for Tails and Amy to follow her.  
  
Chuck must have also had seen the motion, "Oh, for crying out loud, Ella, give it a rest!"  
  
"Not until I hear it from the horses mouth, Mr. Charles!" she shot back. "You are not in charge of their welfare, I am!"  
  
"Actually, my son and his wife—"  
  
"Who cooks and takes care of them? Hmm? I don't see you doing any of it, Mr. Smarty-pants. Now, you two," she pointed to Amy and Tails as her voice lost some of its hardness, "follow me."  
  
Tails sent a pleading look at Sonic, but it was apparent that yesterday's argument with Ella still haunted him. Tails' ears drooped as he took one last, longing glance at his breakfast. Oh, how he loved to eat hot food, especially when it was one of Ella's masterpieces.  
  
Tails sighed and followed Amy into the kitchen and took a seat on one of the unoccupied stools near the one Ella was sitting on.  
  
The three of them sat in an uneasy silence for a few minutes until Ella at last spoke, "Now I know you two are very trustworthy, you've proven that more times than I can think of, but I still worry about you two sometimes."  
  
"What are you worried about, Ella?" Amy blurted out.  
  
Ella smiled and patted Amy's head, "Motherly things, I s'pose. Chris and you all, even that stubborn Sonic, are my young'uns. I just worry about things that could happen, especially when a boy and a girl go missing one night.  
  
Tails noticed that Amy's face was beginning to grow as pink as the quills that framed it.  
  
"Oh! You don't really think that Tails and me would..." She turned and looked at Tails, "You've got to be kidding, that's disgusting!"  
  
Tails felt like he had been left in the dust of the conversation while he choked on the cloud of confusion.  
  
Ella, who had been staring intently at the confused fox, sighed and stated, "I didn't really think that happened, but I just couldn't stop myself from worrying about it." She turned to Amy and told her with a wink, "Amy, go ahead and go back to the table and eat, it looks like I need to fill Tails in."  
  
Amy got up and, unable to control a fit of giggles, made her way to the door and left. The still confused kitsune looked at Ella hoping for an explanation to what was so funny.  
  
"I keep on telling that Tanaka to tell you. I tell him it's easier for a boy to learn this from a man, but does he listen to me? Of course not!"  
  
"Uh, Ella?" Tails prodded.  
  
As if realizing the boy was still there, Ella stopped her ranting and raving and started her speech. "As was going to say, Tails, this is the first of day of school for you, heaven forbid, high school. You're going to need to know this just in case any of those delinquents get any ideas into their thick heads,"  
  
What Tails had hoped the speech would be a few quick words of wisdom about the soon-to-be-seen trials of high school. Instead it was a half-hour long lecture on the birds and the bees from Ella. Ella was a very blunt and to the point person, she did not bother to sugar coat the topic at all. She told it the way it was, the full consequences at what could follow, and many possible scenarios she made Tails promise he would avoid.  
  
After a half hour of traumatizing the little kit, Ella finally turned her attention to the clock and realized that the bus was going to arrive in a matter of minutes. Tails was more than happy to leave the kitchen and get away from Ella before she decided that there was another topic she had to inform Tails of before he left.  
  
Tails glanced at his untouched food tranquilly sitting on the unoccupied table and had walked on. The discussion had killed his appetite. The food was also probably ice cold. The thought of eating cold food made him want to gag.  
  
Chris called from the entrance hallway, "Hey, Tails! Hurry up, the bus is here!"  
  
Chris broke Tail's trance and the fox grabbed his book bag from beneath his chair and dashed out of the mansion.  
  
----------------------------------------------------- Tails had had a long bus ride to think about all Ella had told him while he had sat next to an oddly thoughtful Sonic. Sonic, Tails had noticed, had grown quieter and more contemplative every day since they had arrived on this world. He must still be thinking about her, Tails had finally concluded.  
  
Back on knothole Sonic and Sally were always flirting with one another and playing hard to get. The two were nearly inseparable. Yet, as far as Tails could remember, they had never spoken of their obvious love for each other.  
  
Then all out war between Sally and Robotnik had opened and, soon after, the Chaos Control incident had sent them to Earth. Tails had figured that Sonic had never had his chance to tell Sally of his feelings and that is why Sonic was so different from how he used to be. No one else had seemed to notice it, but, then again, they had never been as close to Sonic as Sally and Tails had been.  
  
The bus rounded the last corner and Station Square High School loomed ahead. The sight of the large school, with its domed gymnasiums and glass roofed hallways that reflected the sunlight like a blue gem, would have been more impressive if it was not for the hungry horde of media vans and the vulture-like reporters waiting for the arrival of Sonic the Hedgehog.  
  
"Man, this is just great..." Sonic had sighed to himself as the bus moved closer to the school and the crowd of reporters.  
  
Tails and Sonic had both formulated a plan to escape the voracious reporters. As the bus came in and the reporters crowed close to the front doors, Tails and Sonic climbed out the back door.  
  
The siren of the bus sounded and confused everyone, giving Tails and Sonic the cover they needed to dash into the school building and away from the loathsome media. It was only later, much to Tail's displeasure of being slammed across the head with a large mallet, that Tails had found out that, after Sonic and he had made their getaway, the media had turned their attention, filled with an insatiable hunger, upon one helpless she-hog.  
  
The day had just kept on getting stranger from there. Tails had expected the usual blank, open-mouthed stares that they brought were ever they went, but they had never came. Many of the students there had welcomed their teenage hero and idol Sonic with open arms. To the teenagers, he was one of them.  
  
Still, even without the feeling like they were on exhibit at some zoo, Tails had still felt uneasy around the teenagers. He couldn't quite place it, but he had felt like there was something very different with how they behaved that confused him. After constantly thinking about if for most of the day, Tails had finally chalked it up to the fact that they were so much older than he was. That had eased his mind, if only by a little.  
  
Amy had immediately clicked with a bunch of girls that, if Tails had not known better, seemed to all be of one mind. They were always together as much as possible and turned the little things, like bathroom trips, into a group field trip. The girls were never by themselves; they always had at least one other by their side at all times like it was an unsaid law. And girls think we're strange, Tails joked to himself as he had watched them.  
  
As for Tails, he had been Sonics shadow for most of the day during passing periods and at lunch. Tails, no matter how hard he looked, could not find anywhere he felt like he could belong besides at the side of Sonic. Sonic didn't mind though, so Tails had stayed with him.  
  
Almost all of Tails' classes began the same way. Most of the teachers cast confusing glances at Tails, no doubt looking at the two tails behind him, when had he entered the classrooms. The teacher would then call out his formal name for roll, earning him a few snickers from the back of the class and causing him to sink into his seat from embarrassment.  
  
Yet, it did not take long for the teachers to recognize Tails' genius. Before most of the class periods had finished, almost of the teachers had been impressed with kit's inborn talent with knowledge and took him aside at the end of class to talk with him about what he planned to do after school with such skill. The teachers had ended up talking so long that Tails had to run to make it to his next class.  
  
Overall, Tails had enjoyed his classroom experiences, but for Sonic that had been another story. At lunch, when they had been seated with a bunch of other athletes, Sonic had told Tails how boring the entire day had been for him. He grumbled that if it weren't for what Ella had promised to do to him if he left school then he would have been gone a long time ago.  
  
Sonic's tune changed as soon as he found out what was on the menu for the day; it was chilidogs. After hearing this, Sonic had immediately entered the line and remerged a matter of seconds later carrying a tray laden with chilidogs. Nearly everyone, in the wake of a wave of whispers, in the huge cafeteria turned and stared as the hedgehog sat down at the table and, to everyone's astonishment except Tails', devoured every last chilidog.  
  
After that the idea of school agreed quite well with Sonic.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
Tails pushed his way through the crowded hallways on a mad dash towards his last class of his first day. The previous teacher had kept him almost the entire class period and, if he didn't hurry, there wasn't a chance he'd make it.  
  
Tails wheeled through the doorway and into the classroom right as the bell rang. He broke into a nervous smile and headed for an unoccupied desk as he consciously readjusted his vest.  
  
"You were almost late, Mr. Prowler," a distant voice spoke matter-of- factly.  
  
He recognized that voice. Somewhere in the back of his mind a warning flag went up, but for the life of him he couldn't see why. He looked at the teacher's desk but the high chair had been turned against were his seat was and he couldn't see who sat in it.  
  
"Now we cannot have any more of this unacceptable behavior." The chair swiveled around.  
  
Tails nearly fell off his own chair in surprise. Sitting on the leather chair was no other than Rouge the Bat dressed in a very tight fitting low cut blouse that left little to the imagination. Most of the male students openly gaped at the young teacher's figure, all but Tails who still so shocked at the appearance of Rouge more than what she was wearing.  
  
Her eyes bored into Tails' own, "I trust that this won't happen again."  
  
She was clearly challenging Tails and every fiber in Tails' body wanted to jump up and fight back. It was like he was watching some other fox saying, "Yes, Miss Bat," and backing down without a fight.  
  
Rouge frowned, clearly unhappy that Tails failed to fall into her ploy. Rouge stared at Tails a moment longer and then stood up and commenced the lesson. She had an air around her that made her seem much taller than she really was. In reality she was about as tall as Tails, who only came up to the chest of an average human, but she seemed taller than any present  
  
"Now class, I know you all are wondering how Mrs. Marst is doing after the car crash last weekend. The doctors say she is coming along fine and should be back sometime before Christmas. Until then I will be teaching in her place. As you may have already guessed from Miles, my name is Miss Bat."  
  
Go figure; is this my lucky day or what? I'm stuck with her all semester, Tails thought to himself as Rouge launched into her lengthy discussion about what they were to do all semester with her.  
  
The male percentage of the class minus the crossed fox had no problem paying attention to the semester syllabus. Rouge had managed to turn stealing male attention into an art form that, while entrancing the men, wholly disgusted the female population.  
  
The class was supposed to be an advanced placement chemistry class, but Rouge only talked nonstop about gemstones. Since she first started describing the course syllabus, and it sounded to Tails that it might as well had been a gemology course. All they would be studying until the end of the semester was gemstones. The only thing that had to do with chemistry in the entire syllabus was a small section based on the chemical makeup of the gems. From the expressions of the female class members, Tails could surmise that they were also thinking the same thing.  
  
Tails sighed. For the first time that day, he could not wait for the bell to ring.  
  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
"...Class rings will be for sale starting September the eighth, and, Maurice Hedgehog Thorndike, please report to Coach Folio's office immediately. That is all and have a wonderful night."  
  
The announcements ended and the bell rang and everyone rose up and all the students made a beeline for the door. Rouge, seeing her chance, called Tails over to her desk. The kitsune didn't look very thrilled, but he still came anyway.  
  
That wasn't the impression of her she wanted from him. Now how was she going to do this? Rouge sighed inwardly and thought that maybe she had been a little too strict. Oh well, water under the bridge.  
  
She let the classroom empty before she began talking. "I've heard a lot of good things about you, Miles, or do you prefer Tails?"  
  
The fox boy just shrugged.  
  
This clearly wasn't going the way she wanted it. Still, she kept her cool calm composure and sat back into her chair as if contemplating.  
  
"You know, graduating high school at your age is quite a feat." She still did not get a response from the fox. "What are you planning on doing after high school?"  
  
Tails looked up at her and she could see the wheels turning in his head. Step one was down, now all she had to do was to keep the fox talking until he felt comfortable. Then she would have him.  
  
"Well, I was thinking about going to college for a degree in engineering," Tails said distantly.  
  
"Where at?" Rouge prodded.  
  
"Well I'm not sure, but I was thinking about Jasper University, but that's halfway across the world."  
  
"Jasper University? You mean the one in Rutile City?" Tails nodded. "You know that it's very hard to be accepted into that college, but, then again, you made quite a name for yourself in the engineering field already with your inventions."  
  
"I have?"  
  
"You'd be quite surprised. That Tornado X is the most talked of thing since sliced bread."  
  
Tails looked amazed, and Rouge stood up and walked up to Tails.  
  
She smiled and said, "You know, Tails, that college is not the only option you have. You could always go immediately into the workforce as an inventor, or, better yet, you could design and build all sorts of things for the government."  
  
At the mention of the government Rouge thought she saw something flicker in Tail's eyes, but, as soon as she noticed it, it was gone. She patted Tails on the shoulder of his vest and, without him being aware of it, placed a radio bug in one of the smaller side pockets on his vest.  
  
"Remember, Tails, you have hundreds of options. Don't forget about all the other choices a brilliant mind like yourself has."  
  
Rouge looked at the clock and gasped. "It looks like I held you over a bit too long. The buses have probably left by now. Hey," her face lit up like she was just struck with an idea, "how about if I give you a ride home?"  
  
Tails shook his head and nervously laughed. Tails pointed to his two tails as he headed out the door and said, "Na, I have my own built-in transportation, but thanks anyway."  
  
Rouge figured he would not have fallen for that last ploy, but it had been worth a shot. All in all it had gone almost exactly as HQ wanted it to go. Now all she had to do was call in and she would be done for the day. She waited more than long enough for Tails to leave the school building and get a good distance away when she pulled out a make-up kit from her purse and opened the lid.  
  
"This is Fruit Bat calling HQ, bug has been successfully planted"  
  
The static voice came out of the hidden speaker, "Roger, requesting to be patched in."  
  
"Roger," She pressed the mirror.  
  
"—Come on," a girl's voice that Rouge did not recognize pleaded. "Please you know how much it means to me."  
  
"Oh, alright. We'll go to the mall as long as we stop to get something to eat first." A guy's voice that she knew was not Tails' had answered.  
  
"Oh, Thank you!" Then came the unmistakable sound of two people kissing. Rouge silently prayed that Tails was there with these two.  
  
"You know it's kinda romantic being here all alone. Are you sure that you want to go the mall or—" the transmission was cut from HQ.  
  
The voice on the compact was not pleased, "Fruit Bat, intended target is a preteen, single, male fox, not an adolescent human with a date."  
  
"HQ, I assure you that the bug had been placed on the intended target just as ordered."  
  
"Fruit Bat, your record shows that you had recently returned from a draining mission. It appears that the mission has exacted an unexpected toll from you. We feel that you need to recover your strength, and thus you are hereby temporary relieved from all activities concerning HQ, excluding your current undercover mission, until further notice. You have also been scheduled for a mandatory CAT scan Tuesday at 17:00 hours at Station Square Hospital and are expected to rest during the weekend. Transmission ended."  
  
HQ obviously wasn't pleased with the results and also apparently thought that Rouge was losing her grip. Enraged, Rouge found her handheld computer and tracked the location of the bug. The readout on the screen showed the bug was still located in the school building and in the area of one of the senior locker bays.  
  
Rouge shut off the computer and trotted angrily towards the locker bay.  
  
There, in plain sight on a bench was the small black clip she had placed inside the boy's vest. Somehow that blasted fox had figured out that she was indeed a spy. There was no way the little brat was going to fall for another underhanded ploy like that. As much as she hated to admit it, a child fox had out foxed the great Rouge the Bat.  
  
--------------------------------------------  
  
"...Class rings will be for sale starting September the eighth, and, Maurice Hedgehog Thorndike, please report to Coach Folio's office immediately. That is all and have a wonder night."  
  
Amy perked up as soon as she heard Sonic's name and was the first one out the door of the classroom when the bell rang. Once she was in the hallway she pulled out a map she had found in the office and searched for Folio's office on it. It was located on the other side of the school, but that didn't bother Amy in the least.  
  
She hurried as fast as she could without any of her speed showing, and made it to Coach Folio's office in a matter of minutes.  
  
Amy heard muffled voices through the door of the relatively large office and she guessed that Sonic was already in there. The voices were muffled to such an extent that she couldn't understand anything they were saying inside. She stood around and waited until she heard movement on the other side of the door.  
  
The door opened and Sonic as well as an older man, whom she supposed was the coach, stepped through the doorway.  
  
Sonic looked surprised and practically shouted, "Amy! What are you doing here?"  
  
Amy looked at Sonic and then the coach. She put on her best innocent act and asked, "I had heard that there was going to be a cross-country tryout tonight, but I didn't know where it was. I was wondering if you could tell me, Coach Folio."  
  
"Well, what a coincidence," the old coach gruffed in his deep voice that belayed his small frame, "Sonic here and I were about to go out there. Why don't you join us?"  
  
On the outside Amy smiled and agreed, but on the inside she was shouting for joy. Everything was going exactly as she planned it would.  
  
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Sorry for the late update, but the sheer size of the chapter surely made up for that. There is still a lot of room for improvement I know, but I hope my typing is getting better with each chapter. So, how is the story so far? I can't read minds so read and review! 


	5. My Sweet Passion

Gear Shift Saga, Book 2  
  
-Gear Shift  
  
--Chapter Five, My Sweet Passion  
  
"C'mon, Amy! Slow down for a sec, alright?"  
  
Amy sighed and slowed down to wait for her friends; it wasn't like she was going fast anyway. After finding out that one could run faster than most cars, walking just seemed like a waste of time and energy when you could be going so much faster with so little extra effort.  
  
"No wonder Sonic loves to run so much," Amy said under her breath.  
  
She and her friends decided to take a break from the cross-country practice and rest under the comforting shade of table umbrellas at a corner side café. Amy's brisk walk had forced the girls to run almost full out in order to stay up with her, and, as a result, they were well ahead of the other runners.  
  
Amy couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Coach Folio driving down the street on one of his infamous runner check-up routes. Coach was well known for his short temper, and seeing one of his senior runners taking it easy and walking was generally enough to set him off on all of the runners in the vicinity. Folio would raise holy hell if he saw one, let alone five, of his runners leisurely sitting down at a café, drinking an iced coffee.  
  
And that is precisely why they chose the café.  
  
One of the girls sat down at their table with her iced coffee and complained, "God, and I thought coach was bad last year. Now he expects all of us to run as fast as Sonic!"  
  
"Tell me about it!" another girl chimed in. "Why else would Folio have us run all the way out to Lapis Park and back? C'mon that's like more than five miles from the school."  
  
"Hey, Amy." Amy's attention broke away from the swaying palm tree she was watching and settled on the girl next to her. "Girl, you not even sweating hard, and you've been the run running like you were in a horror flick. Somethin's up with that."  
  
"Probably steroids," one girl joked.  
  
"Ya, that would explain a lot, especially how flat ches—"  
  
"Hey guys, c'mon!" Amy pouted at the teasing.  
  
All of the girls at the table, even Amy, broke into laughter.  
  
One of the girls facing the street quickly sobered up and gasped as she pointed behind Amy. "Uh, guys, we've got company."  
  
All of the girls turned and looked across the street where they saw another runner from Station Square High. The guy was staring blankly at the girls and then he did the oddest thing; he grinned and took off down the street like a bottle rocket.  
  
The girls rose to their feet and Amy followed.  
  
"Of all the people why did it have to be Jason!"  
  
"Who's Jason?" Amy asked.  
  
The girl turned and stared at Amy, obviously forgetting for a moment that Amy was new to the school. "Jason Giabello is the biggest sell-out Station Square High has. He gets his kicks out of watching the people he turns into the office squirm."  
  
"Then we've got to get him before he gets back to the school!"  
  
The girls nodded in agreement and bolted from the outdoor café in pursuit of Jason. However, before they had even made it across the corner, a blue blur sharply turned the corner and slammed into the girls sending them soaring into the air and smacking the hard pavement below.  
  
Amy groaned as her vision swam and the back of her head throbbed where she had landed. Feeling a dull ache everywhere, she was beginning to understand how a bowling pin must feel after a strike.  
  
In the mist of the injuries, Amy could have sworn she could hear Sonic's voice getting closer with each passing moment. Amy propped herself up on shaky arms to find that Sonic was helping all of the other girls to their feet until he noticed that Amy was among those he had knocked down.  
  
How dare that hedgehog help up all those other girls before helping her up! She had been sprawled out, lying in the middle of the sidewalk, and he had still not noticed her. To make matters worse, people were starting to form a crowd on the other side of the street and outside the café. Amy was starting to feel that nervous sensation that swept through her body when humans just stared blankly at her.  
  
"Hey, Ames, you alright? I didn't see you all the way out there." Apparently the gathering flock of humans didn't bother Sonic in the least.  
  
As Sonic bent down to help her up, Amy had to restrain herself from doing something crazy that she knew she was going to regret. A part of Amy wanted nothing else but to throttle Sonic for his carelessness and shortsightedness, but another part of her wanted to be swept up in his embrace and to give him one of her own. Even though her body and heart couldn't seem to make up their mind on what do to, her miffed brain decided on its own to seize control of her mouth.  
  
"Sonic! Why can't you watch out where you are going! C'mon we were miles away from you and you still—"  
  
"Whoa, Whoa, Amy! Calm down for second, geeze. It was only an accident—hey! Did you say watch?" Sonic dropped Amy back onto the ground and looked down at his wristwatch. "Oh, no! This is just great... coach's gonna kill me!"  
  
Sonic sped off down the block only to stop midway. "Hey, Ames," he yelled across the block, "I'm sorry 'bout all this, but I'll...." Sonic looked like he was having a rough time deciding which evil was the lesser evil. "Look, Amy, I'll make it up to you later, K? I gotta go, or coach is really gonna have my hide!"  
  
Then Sonic dashed down the street and out of sight like a madman.  
  
Did Sonic really promise that he'd make it up to her? It felt like a blissful dream to hear those words come out of his mouth, and Amy hoped that she would not wake up in class to find that she had fallen asleep on her desk. Inspired and renewed, she felt her purpose come closer and surprisingly sharp in her mind, for Sonic at last had finally shown an interested in her.  
  
One of the irritating voices that had annoyed the she-hog during the entire school day broke the magic moment she was having. A hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality.  
  
Amy turned and glared the boy. He was one of many who had been bugging Amy the entirety of her first day at school. Ella had said that that was how human guys expressed their feelings towards the opposite sex, but she sure was as hell not human and her scowls alone would have clearly pronounced to any Mobian that she was not heart-free. She had only one love and she would be damned if it was this joker.  
  
"Amy! I'm so glad you're alright!" The guy swept Amy up into an unwilling embrace. The guy was fairly strong for a human, he easily held the struggling she-hog, and, to Amy's grim amusement, this guy perfectly fit the human description of kawaii. She knew from her friend's accounts that he was an all around athlete, and, as she looked into his hazel eyes and beach blond hair, she immediately understood why all of the girls were moonstruck by him.  
  
But Amy wasn't human and neither would this guy look like he had been human once he let go of her.  
  
"My Amy," the jock brought her even closer to himself, "I promise that for as long as I live that that Sonic will never hurt you again!"  
  
Amy thanked her lucky stars when one of her friends came to rescue her from the crushing, sweaty hold. "Hey, Marlin," she clapped the guy on his shoulder, "you're, uh, kinda stranglin' her."  
  
Marlin gasped and let go of Amy like she was made out of fire. Amy dropped to the ground thankful for the sweat-free, fresh air that flooded into her lungs.  
  
"Oh, Amy, I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up." Marlin grabbed Amy by the waist and hoisted her well above his head and set her back down on her feet to the applause of all of Amy's friends.  
  
That was the last straw. Amy reached into her back pocket were she kept the handle of her extendable hammer and held it behind her back. Having a crush on her was one thing, but humiliating her in front of everyone around was quite another.  
  
She walked up to Marlin and smiled sweetly. "That was amazing, Marlin! You know...you're a lot stronger than Sonic is. I like that, and I like you."  
  
Amy traced her finger along the guy's chest and grabbed a fistful of his cross-country shirt and pulled his face lower to hers.  
  
"Would you kiss me, Marlin?"  
  
Amy watched the fireworks dance in his eyes as he happily blabbered on about something incomprehensible.  
  
"Alright then, big boy, close your eyes for your big surprise."  
  
With a flick of her wrist, she extended her Piko Piko hammer and readied it behind her back.  
  
"Here I come, my darling," she teased as she maliciously buried the hammer deep into the guys face. Marlin didn't even know what hit him as he sailed straight into a nearby office building's wall.  
  
One of the girls shook her head at the jock's unconscious form. "Amy, you do know that you didn't have to be so rough with him."  
  
Amy snorted, "Well, this jerk deserved it."  
  
Amy turned around and bumped into Coach Folio's fuming, short frame.  
  
"Miss Rose, would you kindly explain why the hell Jason told me that—is that Marlin!"  
  
Coach jumped to the unconscious guy's side and stared at the mallet Amy was still holding in her hand. His suntanned face turned six shades redder with constrained fury.  
  
"Miss Rose, get into my car."  
  
------------------------------------------------  
  
Where does the time fly, Ella wondered to herself. It seemed like it was only yesterday that everyone had departed for the first day of school. Had it really been over a month ago?  
  
Ella shook her head as continued to mix the pancake batter in the kitchen. She had worried, still worried, about every one of them, even Christopher. Yet, somehow she knew that things would turn up just fine.  
  
Then Coach Folio had called. Ella's hands subconsciously quickened their movement just thinking about that day.  
  
She had been going all out on a spectacular dinner to commemorate the first day of school for Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream. Cream and Chris had already arrived home on the bus a good while ago and Tails had just flown home. Ella was starting to wonder where Sonic and Amy were, but she remembered Amy saying something about joining some sort of a sport team.  
  
Cream had been in the kitchen helping Ella prepare the dinner when the phone had ringed.  
  
"Hello, this is the Thorndike residence."  
  
"Ah, yes, is this Mrs. Thorndike?"  
  
Great, it sounded like another one of the fans had managed to grab the unlisted mansion's phone number, and a very gruff one at that.  
  
"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Thorndike is a very busy lady."  
  
"I had thought so. Are you by chance the caretaker of Miss Rose?"  
  
Now this was different. "You could say that, but I'm wondering why you calling me about this."  
  
"I'm Coach Folio, the cross-country coach. Your girl here has gotten herself into very serious trouble today at practice."  
  
"What kind of trouble?" Ella had wanted to add what kind of trouble could a girl get into during a supposedly supervised sports activity.  
  
Then the coach had rattled off about how it was probably the first day syndrome. He rattled on for an ungodly amount of time about how Amy's was probably tense and how it was probably the other kid's fault. He had been adamant, on the other hand that that did not excuse Amy's actions in the least.  
  
Ella had made sure that, during the one-sided conversation with Folio that she had Cream run to tell Tanaka to head toward the school. Then, once the little one was out of sight, Ella had given the coach her two cents.  
  
"Folio! What kind of a team are you runnin'? Do you just let the them loose to do as they please?"  
  
"Miss, there are way to many kids to just—"  
  
"Shut up, and listen to me!" Ella snapped and the other side of the line fell dead to the enraged cook's anger. "I've been listening to you ramble on and on about how you felt it wasn't Amy's fault, and if it wasn't Amy's fault then why the hell are we having this conversation! It sounds to me that you are not doing your job as coach. If you were doing you job like you were supposed to then this wouldn't have happened!  
  
"As for Amy, I expect her to be outside waitin' for our butler to escort her home. Understood?"  
  
Folio had grumbled, but had resentfully agreed.  
  
"One last thing, Folio. If I hear that you pull Amy from the team because of this then what had happened to your pretty boy there will pale to what I'll do."  
  
Ever since that day she had had Sonic keep an eye on Amy, even though he couldn't always be at her side. Ever since that day, Amy had had no problems with Folio or anyone else for that matter.  
  
"Ah, Ella, good morning."  
  
Ella looked over to find Chuck happily drawing himself quite a healthy sized portion from the coffee pot and rolled her eyes. What was it with scientists and coffee? She swore that if Chuck ever forgot to drink his morning coffee, then she would have to feed it to him through an IV.  
  
"I don't see why you always grab yourself just a mug. You're going to drink the whole thing anyway, so why don't you just take the entire pot and down it in one swig."  
  
Chuck laughed and half choked on the coffee he was drinking. "Speaking of coffee pots, Ella, I can't find the one I had in my study. You had brought it down to the kitchen to clean it and I hadn't seen it since. Do you know what became of it?"  
  
Ella humphed and started to pour the batter on the grill. "I had left it out on the counter for you to pick it up, and the next thing I knew it disappeared. I had figured you had swept it up at the first chance you got."  
  
Chuck had to raise his voice to be heard over the sizzling grill, "You don't say. I'll just have to ask Tails sometime then."  
  
"Don't be telling me that you got Tails addicted to that stuff," Ella retorted, pointing her spatula at him before setting to work flipping the pancakes.  
  
Chuck raised his mug to his lips and said, "Of course not, Ella." Then he tilted his head back and said something incomprehensible into the drink.  
  
"Oh, and what was that?"  
  
Chuck rolled his eyes and put on a playful grin. "I had said that, with the way Tails works, coffee would only slow him down."  
  
"What do you mean?" In truth, Ella was beginning to worry about the little fox kit. Tails had been spending much of the nighttime locked up in the workshop working on God-knows-what, and most of the time he's still at it when Ella goes out there to collect him for school. If it weren't for the fact that Ella was receiving such good comments about his conduct and grades from his teachers, she would have the thought the kit would have been sleeping at school the entire day.  
  
It was almost like Tails had stopped sleeping altogether.  
  
Chuck poured himself another mug of coffee and tried to answer Ella's question. "Really, I have no idea how to describe it. In my early years as a scientist I had went through almost the same thing. There's really no way to describe it, but almost every scientist I have corroborated with has gone through it.  
  
"It's..." Chuck waved his mug trying to find the words, "almost like finding your true love. It's a passion that consumes you entirely. You want to do nothing but solve some cosmic riddle, examine every nook and cranny of something others take for granted, or perfect some astronomical project that everyone says is impossible, but isn't. A lot of people call it obsessive, but that feeling was what had kept me going days on end without sleep, and I'll bet you anything that is what Tails is feeling right now."  
  
Ella bent over the grill and stared straight into Chuck's eyes. "You gave him coffee didn't you?"  
  
Chuck withered at the glare and scratched the back of his head. "Alright...you got me. I gave him a little, but, to my surprise, he didn't care for it at all." Ella still continued to stare at him until she could extract every drop of truth from Chuck. Chuck grew stern and repeated, "He didn't care for it at all, Ella, I swear."  
  
"Master Charles, it is currently nine o'clock." Ella, hearing Tanaka's voice behind her, nearly jumped over the counter in surprise. Tanaka continued as if nothing had happened, "Sonic and Amy need to leave for the park at ten."  
  
"Thank you, Mr. Tanaka." Without dismissing Tanaka, Chuck turned to Ella. "Ella, would you mind getting Amy and Sonic out of bed? They'd probably sleep till noon otherwise."  
  
"Oh, I s'pose." Ella finished placing the last of the pancakes on the plate and headed out of the kitchen.  
  
Chuck turned his attention to Tanaka and finished his second cup of coffee. He sat back against the wall and asked Tanaka, "Mr. Tanaka, how long have in been in my service now? It's been quite a while, I know."  
  
"It will be nine years this spring, Master Charles."  
  
Chuck nodded to himself and thoughtfully sipped at his third mug of coffee. He was impressed with how well Tanaka was handling himself so far, but Chuck couldn't help but notice how Tanaka stood taller than he had been a few moments ago.  
  
Chuck decided to go slow, there was no need to have this volcano erupt all at once. It would be better for the both of them if he just took it slow and let the pressure escape gradually. He was having too much fun with this anyway.  
  
"Tanaka I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done for my family and I. Yet I know that it must pain you to be so far away from your own family for all these years."  
  
"Sir," was it Chuck's imagination or was Tanaka starting to perspire a little? "I and my family both understood that my choice of career could indeed result in the permanent separation of the family, but I was willing to do what I had to in order to help out my family."  
  
So all wasn't well at home; that explained quite a bit. Chuck considered pressing the topic, but figured it would be best to let the subject drop. "Mr. Tanaka, I have made my decision. Please come here."  
  
As Tanaka moved away from the doorframe, Chuck reached into his white lab coat and removed a small parcel. He handed it out for Tanaka to take it. Mr. Tanaka took the parcel and, with hands trembling ever so slightly, he opened it.  
  
Tanaka's face slowly transferred from a look of worried anxiety to one of immense relief. Chuck set his mug down on the counter and said proudly, "A round-trip ticket to Hokkaido. Believe me, Mr. Tanaka, you deserve even more for that for all your help you have given us all these years. Now, listen to me. I want you to go there and enjoy yourself for a good few weeks and return only when you're good and ready, alright? There's no need to rush the first family reunion you've had in nine years."  
  
Mr. Tanaka made a grateful bow. "Thank you for this gift, Master Charles. However, who is to deliver Mr. Sonic and Miss Rose to their meet this morning?"  
  
"Don't you worry about that, Tanaka, I'll take them. It's been a little while since I've drove a car, so I figure I need to brush off the rust on that skill of mine."  
  
Tanaka bowed deeply once more and took his leave of the kitchen.  
  
Tanaka is truly a man of honor, Chuck mused. He wondered if the blood of a line of samurai ran in Tanaka's veins. At any rate, the world could surely use more people like him, especially in this day and age.  
  
Voices coming towards the kitchen shook Chuck from his pondering. Chuck stood up, drowned the last of the coffee from his mug and the pot and joined the others in the dining room.  
  
------------------------------------------------------  
  
The air around the park thundered with words of excitement and angry condemnation, and since the runners from Station Square High were the middle of the maelstrom, then the entire maelstrom could have weft and weaved around only one person, Sonic.  
  
To the runners from Station Square High, just Sonic's presence lifted moral higher than even a pep talk from all of the best coaches from all time together could ever achieve. Sonic embodied the very things the runners sought after and with him, they could not lose. It was a miraculous feeling.  
  
Yet, the opposing teams' view of Sonic stood in stark contrast of Station Square High's. The coaches from those teams argued against Folio and the officials over Sonic competing in the race. The coaches complained that Sonic unfairly tipped the scales to Folio's favor. The officials, to Folio's delight, said that this was supposed to be an equal opportunity race. There were no speed classes, slow runners just had to understand that they would run against everyone else, and the officials concurred that you also would not create for an exceptional runner, no matter how fast they ran, a new speed rank.  
  
Many of the coaches stomped away from the officials in a fury, but those that remained were still arguing well past the time when the race should have started. Amy shook her head and waited with the other runners from Station Square.  
  
Amy was nervous about the upcoming race but not because of the race itself. She looked over were Sonic was sitting on a tree branch and was casually talking with a few other guys from their school. Amy's heart fluttered, and she found herself wondering if she could actually go through with this. She found herself in doubt. Was she fast enough to actually do this? What would she do if Sonic laughed at her efforts?  
  
Get a grip on yourself, girl. Amy shook her head trying to clear away any trace of the fog of doubt from her senses. How many times has Sonic boldly risked his own neck for her? If she couldn't show even a minute portion of such bravery then she didn't deserve to love Sonic.  
  
Almost as if the arguing coaches were waiting for Amy to make up her mind, they disbanded from the officials and rallied their runners for the race. Amy and the other runners gathered around Folio and made their way to the starting line. Folio was giving some sort of a pep talk, but Amy wasn't listening. She was completely focused on her one objective.  
  
Amy noted Sonic's position and then took her own among the crowd of people. The officials were going over the course one last time and were awaiting questions. Upon finding none they readied the runners.  
  
Amy crouched into ready position, her heart in her throat. The head official scanned over the area and then sounded the alarm on his megaphone.  
  
Then she was gone. Amy dashed down the sidewalks and weaved in and out of trees chasing the blue streak that was quickly disappearing ahead of her. Amy urged her feet to go faster, but it was no use. The blue streak had disappeared from sight.  
  
Still, Amy's steps didn't slow and her speed never faltered. Almost as if appearing from nowhere, the finish line appeared. Across the finish line Sonic had stopped and had his back turned to Amy.  
  
It was now or never. Amy's legs protested as sprinted the final distance between her and Sonic, but she wouldn't give in when she has already come this far.  
  
Sonic's ears perked up at the sound of something approaching and as he turned around he felt something hard and furry connect hard against his chest. He and Amy skidded across the ground and landed entangled together by a row of bushes.  
  
Amy groaned and pulled herself up to more or less sit on her trembling legs. Sonic did likewise, and the two of them just sat there for a while. Amy was busy catching her breath and worrying about what Sonic was going to do while Sonic just stood there in stunned, mute amazement.  
  
Sonic, almost mesmerized, finally managed a few words, "So that...that was all you...right?"  
  
Amy, still trying to find where her lungs took all of the air, simply nodded. Sonic looked up at Amy and if she had any air in her lungs Amy would have squealed in delight at what she had found in those jade orbs.  
  
It was not love; Amy would've been surprised if it had been. Instead of love Sonic's eyes were filled with a newfound respect for the she-hog.  
  
Sonic offered his hand to Amy and then picked her up in his arms. As Sonic slowly walked back to where the coaches and runners would be congregating, Amy couldn't help but wish that she could remain in his arms for the rest of her life. 


	6. Date with Destiny

I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed thus far. You'd be surprised at how much you words have kept me continuing my story.  
  
This chapter is dedicated to everyone on the Knothole Network for all their help (especially Illys, Minalkra, Sonique, and good ol' Capn), but I want to especially thank A New Dreamer for all her support when writing became discouraging to me.  
  
Please note that this story's rating has gone from PG-13 to R in regard to some more mature material. Please note that this story does not/will not contain any lemons, limes, or any other citrus fruit.  
  
---------------------------------- Gear Shift Book 2  
  
Gear Shift  
  
Chapter Six, Date with Destiny  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
The stars were wonderful tonight. Tonight was the first night that the seasonal rain had relented and stopped in well over two weeks. Everything shimmered in the light of the stars that were able to shine through the veil of light and light cloud cover that blanketed the suburbs. The stars gave Tails a welcomed sense of familiarity even though the constellations were completely alien to him.  
  
Yet, outshining them all was the crippled moon that hung suspended in midair amongst them. Tonight was the full moon and the awful destruction brought on by Eggman's use of space colony ARK's eclipse cannon was easily seen. Even though it was a full moon, only the remaining two-thirds of the moon shined or would ever again.  
  
Tails turned to his rooftop companion and pondered. This must be why Sonic always sat on the mansion roof and watched the sky. The view seemed to put everything that they were trying to accomplish into perspective. The moon had almost instantly reminded Tails of the majestic view he had of Earth while aboard the ARK.  
  
"So, Tails, I had figured that you'd've been in the workshop tonight, especially since you were tellin' everyone that you were gettin' close to a break through this morning." Sonic turned his head and grinned from ear to ear. "Don't tell me that the world's greatest boy genius has been stumped by a little ring."  
  
Tails shook his head. "No, Sonic...it's not like that. I just needed a break, I guess."  
  
"Too much of a good thing, eh?"  
  
"Yea... that's probably it."  
  
The silence that followed such a short conversation hinted there was more that Sonic wanted to say, and Tails was sure of it. They had lived with each other like brothers for much of Tail's childhood, and they knew each other's habits as if it was their second nature. Tails knew that Sonic would get to the point once he had collected enough of his thoughts, and so he just waited.  
  
Thankfully it wasn't long. "Tails, I've been thinking. Homecoming's coming up Friday, and my best bud doesn't have a girl to take to the dance."  
  
"And do you have a girl to take to the dance, Sonic?"  
  
Sonic's voice went playful, "Actually, Tails, I think I may have one lined up, but, ya know... I seriously doubt she'd want to go a school dance with me."  
  
It was almost impossible for anyone to stay melancholy when they were around the charismatic hedgehog. Tails could feel himself involuntarily relax, and he even allowed himself a good chuckle. "I actually think she'd prefer to spend an afternoon at the mall rather than go to a dance, Sonic, but I doubt you and you're wallet would get out intact."  
  
"You got that right, Tails," Sonic grinned, "and that is exactly why we're going to the dance. But that still doesn't solve your girl problem."  
  
Tails looked down at his shoes and sighed. "Sonic...I just don't think I'm ready for a girlfriend yet."  
  
"C'mon now. This is gonna be your only big dance in high school, and, since you're my little bro, of course it's gonna have to rock!"  
  
Tails nodded his head in agreement and returned the eager grin. "You're right, Sonic. This is going to be my only dance so I guess I should enjoy it."  
  
"Alright then it's settled." Sonic jumped to his feet on the tiled roof, the old twinkle back in his eye. "I'll begin the ol' babe search tomorrow."  
  
A low grumbling sound came out of nowhere, and Sonic looked down in surprise and patted his stomach. "But first...how 'bout a midnight snack? Nuked chili dogs sound good?"  
  
"That would be awesome!" Tails licked his mouth eagerly as he grinned. "Last one there cooks the dogs!" he yelled as he dashed past Sonic.  
  
"Hey! Oh no you don't! Come back here! _Tails_!"  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
How did he ever let Sonic talk him into this? He knew that Sonic usually knew the best for Tails, but he this was not something that he really wanted to do. The scientist in Tails constantly worried about the possible outcomes the night would bring, but pre-teen inside of him argued insistently that, if everything went well, this night could possibly be the best night of his life.  
  
Another more sinister part of his mind that he had so desperately tried to lock away had also awaken to join the argument inside of him. It brought to the table another terrible guilt trip. Had he only told Sonic then none of this would be a problem, it argued.  
  
Tails angrily banished the figure to the back of his mind with a simple argument. If he had told Sonic then what were the odds of him still being here?  
  
The scientist perked up ready to give the answer, but Tails also shoved him away. He didn't want to know the odds. This was the escape Tails needed. For one night he would not be the scientist, but he would instead be the teenager that was busting to escape.  
  
Maybe that was what Sonic was trying to help him with. Tails was almost instantly relieved at the thought as he marveled at the wisdom of the hedgehog.  
  
Tails stood up and searched through his closet looking for some sort of semi-formal attire. Due to the fact that just a month or so ago he wore no clothes, he was not having much luck. Tails finally settled on a white shirt and kaki vest from the near empty closet of the boy's bedroom.  
  
As he placed the vest over his shoulders, Tails still felt a twinge of doubt serge through him like venom. He just wished that Tanaka hadn't left for his family so soon; Tails could really have used his advice on dating. Tails thought about Amy, but he quickly got rid of the notion. This was her big night with Sonic, and Tails shouldn't pollute this night with his worries.  
  
He was on his own, and was to be on his way to see a girl he had never met before. Tails shook his head. Why had he allowed himself to get sucked into this mess?  
  
Chuck peered into the room from the hallway. "Hey, Tails, everything ready to go?"  
  
"Almost, Chuck." Tails finished straightening out his vest and turned to face the older man.  
  
"Ah, not bad, not bad. It's still missing something though.... I got it!" Chuck's face beamed. "Hang on, Tails, I'll be right back."  
  
Chuck came back moments later holding a chain attached to some sort of golden object in his hands that struck Tail's curiosity.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"This," Chuck patted the object affectionately, "is an antique pocket watch that my father gave to me when I was about your age."  
  
"A pocket watch?" The idea dumbfounded the little kit. The only watches he had ever known were either strapped to a wristband or mounted on a wall. Why would anyone want to put a watch in their pocket when the wristwatches were so much easier, not to mention convenient, to use?  
  
"I take it you've never seen one these before then. That's understandable. These little windup watches come well before my time also, but they're real handy when you're in a spot and don't have any batteries. Not to mention they add a lot of class to an outfit like yours."  
  
Tails pointed to the pocket watch's face. "Chuck, we've gotta be going or were not going to make it in time."  
  
Chuck took a look at the watch, nodded, and moved towards Tails. "You're right, Tails. Here, let me put this on."  
  
Tails grabbed Chuck's wrist as it made its advance towards his vest. "I'd prefer to put it on myself so that I'd be able to do it myself the next time I go to a dance."  
  
Chuck hesitated for a second, but apparently thought that that was a good idea, for he handed the watch to Tails and instructed him on where to place the clock inside of his inner vest pocket and what places to attach the long chain.  
  
The sound of the limousine's horn brought Chuck and Tail's attention to the garages.  
  
Chuck laughed. "If he wasn't a hedgehog, one would begin to think that he was also one of my sons with his level of patience! C'mon, Tails, we'd better be going before he decides to hotwire the limo and take off without us."  
  
Chuck and Tails found an impatient Ella, Sonic, and Amy waiting outside of the black limousine. Ella, after finishing her fuss about the slight winkles in Sonic's sharp midnight-blue suit, also gave Tails a good deal of straightening and rearranging of his own vest.  
  
Tails was about to argue with Ella, but the words died in his throat when he noticed Amy. She was, for lack of any better description, astounding. For this evening Amy had discarded the tasteless pink skirt and instead wore a sparkling emerald green dress. Just little movements like walking brought about a shimmering display of color in rolling waves that mesmerized the kitsune. Perhaps the most beautiful thing of all were her eyes. The fire that was perpetually lit within those jade spheres was stroked and intensified by the magnificent dress until it became like a beacon proclaiming her beauty.  
  
In a way Tails couldn't help but be envious.  
  
Chris and Cream came down to the garage and with Ella the three of them wished the others a good night. Chris seemed downed about being too young to join them, and Tails found himself longing to switch places with the boy for this night.  
  
Chuck was driving due to the absence of Tanaka, and Sonic and Amy quickly immersed themselves in conversation on the other end of the limo. Tails didn't feel any need to join in on the conversation and thus let his mind wonder towards to romantic sunset before him, and not on the mystery girl he was to meet at the dance.  
  
A dull droning sound brought Tails back from his daydreaming, and he sat up in his seat to listen closer to the unusual sound. The further they went the more pronounced the sound became until Tails began to feel his head pulse in pain with each crest of the noise. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block out the sound.  
  
"Tails, are you all right?" Chuck's eyes were in the rearview mirror. "What's wrong?"  
  
Tails grasped his head to try to make the throbbing stop, but it only increased. "Can you guys hear that?"  
  
Sonic looked dumbfounded. "Hear what, Tails?"  
  
"I was afraid of this..." Chuck pulled the car off to the curb. Someplace in Tails' mind which wasn't dealing with the pain registered that they were only a block or two away from the school.  
  
"Chuck, do you know what's going on with Tails?" Amy asked worriedly.  
  
Chuck unbuckled himself from the drivers seat and proceeded to pull out a package from the dashboard. He took from it two small foam cylinders and instructed Tails to place one in each ear.  
  
Tails placed the first in his ear as instructed, but before he had placed the other in his ear Chuck had answered Amy's question, "Tails, as we know, has quite a powerful sense of hearing. He's probably just been hearing the base of the music.  
  
"Tails, before you put in that earplug let me ask you something. I know you want to go to the dance, and, don't get me wrong, I perfectly understand why, but if the noise is too much just tell me and we'll go back to the mansion and play a board game with the others. OK?"  
  
Tails looked at Sonic and Amy. Sonic had probably gone to a lot of trouble just to set up this date for him, and if Tails didn't follow through with this it would be like a slap in the hedgehog's face.  
  
Resolutely, Tails placed the other earplug in his ear and said firmly, "I'm going."  
  
It was as if the entire world had been silenced. Tails could hear nothing, not even Chuck's words to Sonic before he turned around and strapped himself back into the driver's seat.  
  
A few moments later Sonic, Amy, and Tails were walking towards the high school gymnasium. Sonic and Amy were together holding hands, and Tails was once again accompanied by the slowly re-emerging droning base that echoed through the pavement beneath his feet.  
  
Tails stepped through the doorway and it felt as if he were wearing no earplugs at all. This time, though, it wasn't just the sound of the base traveling through him, but also the treble and the vocalist. His head began to pulsate again, but, thankfully, the earplugs managed to reduce it to a more tolerable decibel level.  
  
Sonic tapped Tails on the shoulder and pointed to a girl sitting alone at one of the small tables nearby. Sonic grinned, and Tails could see why. She could easily have been a heartthrob of the cheerleader squad, and, now that he thought about it, most likely was. Her black dress stood in sharp contrast with her milky white skin, and her long, braided golden hair was perfect match with her pair of chocolate-brown eyes.  
  
Tails realized he was staring when the girl shifted her weight uncomfortably in her seat. Tails walked to the table, taking care not to trip over anything in the muted light, and took a seat by the girl.  
  
Well, at least he was sitting next her, that's an accomplishment in and of itself. However, as they sat together in mutual silence, well not quite silence as the persistent headache reminded him, he realized that she must be waiting for him to begin a conversation. Just how was he supposed to do that? Tails stole a look over to the table that Amy and Sonic were sitting and chatting, and the fox wished that Sonic had at least told him what to say to the girl.  
  
A soft hand on Tails' gloved paw brought him back from his worries. Tails looked up and realized that his date had been trying to say something the entire time. He could see her lips moving, but if the music wasn't loud enough to drown out her voice then the earplugs would've silenced it. Unless she could scream like a jumbo jet, Tails doubted he'd be able to her at all in the cavernous gymnasium.  
  
He tried to explain to her in what he hoped was loud enough voice, and, thankfully, she seemed to understand on the first attempt. Heads turned from the nearby tables and stared at Tails for a moment.  
  
_Of course she had understood_, Tails thought miserably to himself, _I probably yelled it loud enough that everyone in Station Square had heard it.  
_  
The loud booming song faded away much to the flushed kit's immense relief, and was replaced by a slow moving song.  
  
Tails' date stood up and eagerly clasped onto Tails' wrist and pulled him up from his seat. The confused fox was dragged to the middle of the dance floor, and it was only until he saw the other couples stand up that he knew why. This was the slow dance Sonic had told him about a few days earlier.  
  
Tails and his date were quite an awkward sight to behold. There he was, barely coming up to the girl's stomach, and he was trying to dance with her. Actually it really couldn't be called dancing; it was more or less the two of them strafing back and forth and trying to hang onto one another for dear life.  
  
At least that's what it felt like to an overstretched Tails. His date, on the other hand, was doing a remarkably realistic impersonation of the hunchback of Notre Dame.  
  
Thus it came to no surprise that Tails could feel the eyes of many of his peers once again boring into the back of his head. Tails didn't know if it was on accident or on purpose, but the combination of his head's position with how bent over his date was gave Tails a clear view of something he didn't want to see.  
  
Tails disengaged himself from the judo lock he and his date were entangled in and excused himself to the refreshment stand. Tails shakily walked over to the refreshment stand, filled a cup full of punch, and sat down in a nearby chair.  
  
He was definitely not enjoying himself. Between the communication barrier of sound, the constant humiliation, his partner's—he didn't want to think of it—and the fact that every time he looked at Sonic and Amy he noticed how good of a time they were having Tails felt that the fun was sufficiently sucked dry from the dance.  
  
_You know, Tails, this wouldn't have happened if only you would have—_  
  
_Get outta my head!_ Tails screamed inwardly as he once again tried to banish the figure.  
  
However, before the figure was swept away it left a shocking message for the kit. _Do I feel jealousy? You are jealous of them?_ He could hear the laughter split his head. _All it would take, Tails, to destroy that relationship would be four simple words..._  
  
The slow song ended and the crowds of dancers dispersed to return to their tables. The only thing Tails noticed was how quiet the gymnasium was, and how silent his mind was. It was an alien feeling. All Tails wanted to do was sit in that chair until the dance was over.  
  
The next song began, but Tails did not care to hear it. His head began to throb from the closer proximity to the speakers, but he welcomed the change from the sudden emptiness.  
  
However, the lyrics to the song left Tails frozen in his seat. They made him want to run out the gymnasium doors, but every muscle in his body had turned to concrete, and he was forced to endure words that cut him to his soul.  
  
_You come into the threshold of another starless night of fear.  
  
You're running from the demons that would drag you down again.  
  
Illusions of the world are spinning out of time and frame  
  
And simplicity.  
  
You're so sad,  
  
You're such a sad eyed girl.  
  
You're so sad  
  
In your sublime.  
  
What is,  
  
What is this?  
  
This mass of my existence this?  
  
All these politics of life and death and relevance  
  
Is my existence?  
  
Another morning it comes running up your bedpost with the wind  
  
You face yourself just like you always do  
  
Time and time again.  
  
The mortal coil in their genr'l peace and  
  
Satisfaction...Satisfaction.  
  
So you keep it on the town, Lo?  
  
Hiding all the secrets that are down below.  
  
So you keep it on the town, Lo?  
  
So tell me baby was it worth it all?  
_  
Tails stood straight up, the forgotten drink spilling onto the floor. He was leaving; he had had enough.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
"Sonic, I'm leaving."  
  
Amy and Sonic turned from one another and looked at Tails. The boy was a wreck. Tails was shaking from head to toe, his forehead fur was mattered with sweat, and the poor boy looked as if he was about to be sick.  
  
"Damn, Tails, why didn't you come an' get me sooner? You look like you're gonna be sick."  
  
Sonic stood up and helped support the half deaf kitsune while Amy picked up a napkin and dabbed the fox boy's forehead.  
  
"Amy, I'll be back in a minute, I'm gonna take Tails home."  
  
"Ok," There wasn't much else she could do, so Amy sat down watch the two of them head for the door with Tails' worried date in tow.  
  
The she-hog had never been really found of anyone from the cheerleading squad, especially the captain of the squad that Sonic had somehow wooed for Tails. As far as Amy was concerned, the whole lot of them were just a bunch of bimbos who looked for only their next hot date with their next hot guy.  
  
Sonic came back in much faster than he should have, especially considering the condition Tails had been in. Not to mention Tails' date didn't come back in either.  
  
"Hey, I'm back," Sonic said as he took his seat.  
  
"What happened out there anyway?"  
  
"Marcie Campbell wanted to make sure that Tails got home alright so she volunteered to drive him home since it is only a little ways away anyway."  
  
Amy was in shock. "You left Tails...with the likes of her?"  
  
The fact didn't seem to bother Sonic in the least. "She seemed pretty worried about him, Amy. I'm sure he will get home fine."  
  
"Sonic, you know that sometimes you can be just a little too trusting of people..."  
  
Sonic just chuckled. "Oh c'mon. Tails can easily defend himself from some high school girl. Anyways, on Earth girls don't beat guys."  
  
Sonic was teasing her and she wasn't about to let him get away with it. "Oh, if I heard correctly then that sounded an awful lot like a challenge, Sonniku."  
  
"Think you can beat the stereotype, Ames?"  
  
"Oh you bet, and with a lot more grace than you will ever imagine."  
  
------------------------------  
  
Even though on the outside they were competing for the dominance of their respected sexes, on the inside it was quite different.  
  
While most of the couples danced only with the slow songs and on them they only held each other close, Sonic and Amy danced to all the songs with such fire and passion, or cool and longing that all thoughts of the competition between them were soon forgotten.  
  
Students and professors alike watched the two Mobians dance. Sonic was fearless and unabashed. Amy was passionate. Together the two of them brought new life to the monotonous dance and re-ignited a longing that ran so deep in the human blood that it had been almost forgotten over the years.  
  
One brave couple stood up from their table and took their try at the different style of dancing. While they did not dance at all like Sonic and Amy did, it was no different in eyes of the bystanders.  
  
Couple by couple the tables were emptied until the floor was packed with bodies each moving to their own unique rhythm. That dance seemed pass by in a blink of an eye, but it was a blissful eternity with the one the dancers loved. Before anyone knew it the DJ was packing up and the students where leaving two by two for their vehicles.  
  
Neither gender was proven superior that night, but both were reminded of the reason we dance; to convey our emotions and love in a way that the mind and heart cannot.  
  
---------------------------------  
  
"Thanks for the great time, Sonniku."  
  
"Hey, it's not over until we get home, you know, Ames."  
  
Amy knew. That was why they decided to take the long way home and walk the distance instead of running it. Amy had dreamed for this night for years and it had been just as she dreamed it would be. Her and Sonic, hand in hand, walking home from a date.  
  
Sonic stopped walking after a while. "Amy...I wanted to talk to you about something."  
  
Amy's heart swelled to bursting point. This was it; she knew it!  
  
"Yes, Sonniku."  
  
Sonic lightly held both of her wrists and looked into her eyes. "Promise me that you'll hear me through before you do anything rash like hitting me over the head with your hammer, alright?"  
  
Why would she want to do that? "Of course, Sonniku, I promise."  
  
Sonic let go of her hands and looked down at his feet. "I wanted to talk about Sally."  
  
"I see..." Jealousy threatened to rise up and make her turn Sonic into a pancake, but see pressed it back down. "Is that how you feel about me then, a replacement for your precious Sally?" she asked coldly.  
  
"No! I just--"  
  
Amy turned away from him with tears threatening to run down her face. "You just what? Why do you want to talk about her badly?"  
  
Sonic's voice softened, "Because, Amy, I don't want to force myself to ignore my feelings for you for another five years."  
  
Amy turned and stared at Sonic, daring him to sweat, to tremble, or to otherwise give away that he was once again jerking her heartstrings.  
  
No sign proclaimed itself. Sonic just stood there waiting for her.  
  
"Go on."  
  
"Amy... we both know that the odds of us getting back to mobius are slim, right?"  
  
Amy still wasn't going to be moved, not until she knew the motive behind this. "That's old news, Sonic."  
  
Sonic continued as if he hadn't heard her, "And... she may not have even survived that fight..."  
  
_Damn...why would he ever bring up Sally if he knew it would infuriate me?_ she thought. _Maybe this time he isn't playing me as a joke._ Even though she still struggled futilely to maintain her appearance of ice, she could feel the puddle forming at her feet.  
  
"She's a part of my past, and she's a part of yours, too. I want you to know—no to understand—that no matter what happens, part of me will still belong to her. And," He looked her straight in the eyes, "if you can't accept this then run home. I won't hold it against you, Ames."  
  
The rest of her icy appearance melted beneath her feet. "Sonic, I'm so sorry." She latched onto Sonic's shoulder and began to sob uncontrollably.  
  
"No, Amy, I'm the one who should be sorry. I should've told you a long time ago."  
  
-------------------------------  
  
An hour later a teary eyed hedgehog and a melancholy hedgehog turned around the last corner to the mansion.  
  
And they both stopped dead in their tracks.  
  
There in front of the Thorndike Mansion three police cars sat with their lights flashing. Two cops were leading a figure into one of the vehicle, and the entire household was in an uproar over it.  
  
"Sonic, what's going on?" Amy asked worriedly. She didn't like the feeling she was getting from the situation.  
  
Sonic's quills were also standing on end. "I don't know, but I'm gonna find out!"  
  
The two of them dashed to the lawn, but as they arrived the police vehicle had already started moving down the empty street.  
  
The scene was horrible. Ella was comforting Cream and Cheese on the porch, Chuck was fuming and pacing, and Chris was just standing with his eyes fixed where he saw the police car last. They were all in their pajamas and it was plain to see that they had been woken up by whatever had happened.  
  
"Where's Tails." It was not a question, but a demand from Sonic.  
  
Ella and Cream and Cheese began to bawl anew, and Chris just sat down.  
  
Chuck turned and faced the hedgehogs, the embers of rage still hot in his gaze. "They've taken Tails."  
  
"What do you mean _taken_?" Amy shot back.  
  
Chuck clenched his fists and said through his teeth, "It means they issued a warrant for Tails for the--," he took a look at Cream and Cheese decided against his words. "For taking _advantage_ of a Marcie Campbell."  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics from Kevin Maxx's song Existence they are owned and created by him.  
  
Hope you guys are enjoying this story! It may be a little while before I can get the chance to write again, but rest assured I will continue. 


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